Ever heard of the Fulgoridae [or Lanternfly]?

[elvis4life]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgoridae

https://www.silive.com/news/2022/08/cant-go-out-the-front-door-staten-island-home-overrun-with-spotted-lanternflies-parks-taking-limited-action.html

‘Can’t go out the front door’: Staten Island home overrun with spotted lanternflies. Parks taking ‘limited’ action.
Published: Aug. 19, 2022, 4:09 p.m.

At the edge of Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside, residents have placed tape around their property to catch the spotted lantern fly. Thursday, August 18, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

By Erik Bascome | tbascome@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As spotted lanternflies continue to infest Staten Island, the influx of invasive pests has made it difficult for some residents to even leave the house.

Mary Raya, a Sunnyside resident who lives on the border of Clove Lakes Park, has been dealing with spotted lanternflies since August 2020, shortly after the pests were first discovered in the borough.

The spotted lanternfly was first discovered in New York State -- on Staten Island -- in 2020, and is native to China and Southeast Asia. The invasive plant-hopper is known for being hard to spot, harder to kill and bad for the environment.

Not only are they a nuisance, they’re also a threat to plants and crops that are critical to New York’s agricultural economy, such as grapevines, hops, apple trees and maple trees, the New York State Department of Agriculture has said.

Thankfully, the spotted lanternfly doesn’t carry any diseases that can impact humans or domestic/wild animals, Chris Logue, director for plant industry at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets told the Advance/SILive.com: https://www.silive.com/news/2022/08/state-expert-weighs-in-on-spotted-lanternfly-in-new-york-7-key-questions-answered.html

At the edge of Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside, residents have placed tape around their property to catch the spotted lantern fly. Thursday, August 18, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Over the past two years, the infestation outside Raya’s home has escalated from dozens to now thousands of spotted lanternflies, making it impossible for her to leave the house without being swarmed.

“You can’t go out the front door without killing at least 50 of them,” Raya said. “We literally don’t know what to do anymore. The whole entire summer has been spent in the house because we literally cannot go out the door. They fly on our clothes. They’re all over our tires.”

The Advance/SILive.com visited the home on Thursday and observed many hundreds of spotted lanternflies.

Colorful carcasses of squished bugs lined the street, while others were stuck to homemade tape traps wrapped around infested trees.

But despite the hundreds of dead or doomed pests, hundreds more fluttered about the area.

“We don’t know what to do,” Raya said. “The more we kill, hundreds come in return.”

At the edge of Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside, residents have placed tape around their property to catch the spotted lantern fly. Thursday, August 18, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Raya has reached out to NYC Parks and 311 seeking assistance, but has yet to hear back from the city.

When reached for comment, an NYC Parks spokesperson told the Advance/SILive.com that the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is the lead agency responsible for lanternflies in New York and offered no indication that the department would address lanternfly infestation in the areas surrounding city parks.

NYC Parks is working with city, state and federal partners to coordinate surveying and treatment approaches, but is not currently considering widespread treatment due to high costs and uncertainty surrounding the effectiveness of existing chemical treatments.

“However, we may treat limited high-value trees at risk of infection if it is deemed necessary,” the NYC Parks website states: https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/spotted-lanternfly-infestation

Though harming city wildlife is typically prohibited, NYC Parks is encouraging residents to kill any lanternflies they see, due to their invasive nature.

“Harming our city’s wildlife is broadly prohibited, but in an effort to slow the spread of this troublesome species, the current guidance remains: if you see a Spotted Lanternfly, please squish and dispose of this invasive pest,” said NYC Parks spokesman Dan Kastanis.

Property owners are also urged to destroy any spotted lanternfly egg masses found near their home to prevent future infestations.

“Destroy egg masses by scraping them into a bucket of hot, soapy water or a baggie/jar of hand sanitizer,” according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/113303.html

At the edge of Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside, residents have placed tape around their property to catch the spotted lantern fly. Thursday, August 18, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Raya is not the only Staten Islander struggling to contain a lanternfly infestation near their home.

Thea Baird, of Tottenville, told the Advance/Silive.com in June that hundreds of lanternfly nymphs were “all over, everywhere” in her yard: https://www.silive.com/news/2022/06/spotted-lanternfly-nymphs-all-over-everywhere-heres-what-staten-islanders-should-do.html

The councilman recently penned a letter to Susan M. Donohue, commissioner of the city Department of Parks and Recreation, and Dr. Ashwin Vassan, commissioner of the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, requesting “a remediation to an emerging conservation matter.’’

“Our Island is facing a new threat to our ecology, as invasions of spotted lanternflies are reproducing at an alarming rate,’’ stated Borelli in the letter, noting that the issue is affecting the borough’s most lush parks and surrounding areas.

“More needs to be done, not only to curb the population growth, but to educate residents on spotted lanternflies in order to clear up any misconceptions or false information,’’ the letter stated. “My office has received a number of complaints from park-goers, property owners and community members even fearful to step outside of their own home.’’

At the edge of Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside, residents have placed tape around their property to catch the spotted lantern fly. Thursday, August 18, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

And Borelli isn’t the only elected official urging government intervention.

On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to tap into federal funds from an account he has supported with more than $200 million to contain spotted lanternflies: https://www.silive.com/news/2022/08/schumer-presents-plan-to-control-invasive-spotted-lanternflies-on-staten-island-across-ny.html

Schumer said these funds can be used by New York’s “Integrated Pest Management Program,” which has been working to control the bug. In addition, Schumer wants an additional $22 million in federal funds to be used for education and eradication teams: https://nysipm.cornell.edu/#:~:text=Our%20Mission%3A%20The%20New%20York,%2C%20health%2C%20and%20economic%20risks.

“For years now, I have warned about the pest, but today, we are here demanding action because pockets of New York City, Long Island and Upstate are now infested by the invasive bug that wreaks havoc on trees, vineyards and crops,” Schumer said at a Central Park press conference. “This is a multi-million-dollar threat to New York’s economy -- both tourism and agriculture are now at risk if the spotted lanternfly goes unchecked. But the good news here is that we have federal funds already in place, that I secured, to help New York contain the bug, and that we will be pushing for more.”

[Mike C]

Yes, I killed two of these in my yard this week.