By Stephen Smoot, Moorefield Examiner
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — Brilliantly lovely to look at, but dangerously deadly to American forests, the spotted lantern fly’s establishment in West Virginia has led to a determined response by the State Department of Agriculture. If their policy had to bear the name of a rock album, it would certainly be Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All.”
They came originally from China, India, Vietnam, and other areas in southeast Asia and emerged first in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Last fall, James Watson of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture shared why officials have such concern over this creature. He stated that the “Spotted lanternfly poses a threat to several important agricultural crops, namely grapes and hops, and then unfortunately several of our important forestry trees, specifically black walnut, staghorn sumac, sugar maple, and red maple.”
They prefer congregating on and near the tree-of-heaven, itself an invasive species brought in the 1700s, then again in the 1800s for ornamental planting and reforestation. Its resilience and quick spread accentuated the damage it does by attracting pests, outcompeting native plant life, and also poisoning the soil to prevent other plants from taking hold.
