The application deadline is fast approaching for next spring's gypsy moth spraying.

Applications for the spraying can be found at the Carbon County Commissioners' office located at the Annex building in Jim Thorpe.In order to qualify for the spray, the house must be located in a medium to heavily wooded area. The spray will cover a 23-acre range with a price of $50 to $60 an acre.All 23 acres must be sprayed.Neighbors can divide the cost, but no less than 23 acres in all can be sprayed.Once the application is filled out and returned to the Commissioner's office a county park ranger will come out to inspect the site in October to ensure the area meets all qualifications.If a resident is part of a homeowner's association the application process is the same but qualifications differ.Criteria includes having a total of 23 acres of forested residential property that must contain trees 25 feet or more in height and consist of at least 20 percent or more of highly favored species, including apple, aspen, basswood, beech, birches, box elder, hawthorn, larch, oaks, willows and witch hazel trees; and also have at least 250 healthy gypsy moth egg masses per acre, which is determined by Horvath using a specific equation.Residential properties with only scattered ornamental trees and shrubs or any property with trees that are readily accessible to ground spray equipment do not qualify for this program. Areas that have very small egg masses, regardless of the number, often do not qualify for the program because the gypsy moth population will most likely succumb to natural mortality agents shortly after they emerge in the spring.Egg masses should not be removed until field evaluations have been completed. Neighboring residential properties where all the landowners desire treatment will be combined into a single spray block whenever possible.This year, a total of 774 acres were sprayed in the county at a cost of $26 per acre for a total of $20,124. Of that total, 610 acres was Mauch Chunk Lake Park property and cost the county $15,860. The remaining 164 acres was private residents who qualified to be part of the spraying, and they shared the $4,264 balance.