In parking lots or on walls and fences, sidewalks, lawns, picnic tables, cars and trucks … name the place, spotted lanternflies were all around us. Now, though, I’m inclined to think the spotted lanternflies, rather than face the foot-tapping music, have found out they aren’t wanted here and beat it. “There is really no consensus,” Julie Urban, a professor of entomology at Penn State, told theguardian.com in August. Several weeks ago, in fact, Penn State highlighted a long-term study suggesting spotted lanternflies could do less harm to hardwood trees like maple, willow and birch than had been feared a decade ago. One would hope Democrats and Republicans coming together to tackle a common danger to their states leads to increased funding into ways to stop the spotted lanternflies’ proliferation and impact on farmers.

Source: The Guardian October 05, 2023 10:30 UTC