by KYW’s Lynne Adkins

It's a banner year for gypsy moths in some parts of the keystone state.

Gypsy moths are currently in the caterpillar stage and that's when state officials spray to try and keep the populations down. Dr. Donald Eggan, Forest Health Manager for the state of Pennsylvania, says some years are worse, because a fungus which attacks the caterpillar isn't always effective:

"When it's a warm dry spring, the fungus doesn't kick in and the populations increase and that's what happened in the past few years. Fortunately, this is a cool wet spring and hopefully the fungus will kick in.”

He says gypsy moths eat leaves and attacked more than 680,000 acres of trees last year. The infestation isn't bad around Philadelphia now, but is a big problem in the northern and western parts of the Commonwealth.