Spotted Lanternfly could cost Pennsylvania millions

Last Spring and Summer, you couldn’t throw a frisbee in Ambler, Lower Gwynedd or the surrounding area without hitting a Spotted Lanternfly. Stomping these pests became the past time of any man, woman or child brave enough to encounter and possibly get jumped on by these multi-colored menaces, and now Penn State University has come out with a study that only reinforces the continued killing.

Made possible by a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, this report states that if it goes unfettered, the spotted lanternfly infestation could spread across Pennsylvania and cost an estimated $324 million annually and eradicate nearly 3000 jobs from the state’s economy.

Sectors of the state’s economy most likely to be affected are forestry, floriculture, fruit and crop farming, wholesale trade, real estate and more. Nurseries, vineyards and Christmas Tree producers are particularly susceptible. Timber exports could also be hard hit in efforts to halt the spread of the pest to other states.

From the Washington Post: “…scientists have been testing chemical and biological methods of lanternfly control. Government contractors are removing tree of heaven — an invasive tree that is the lanternflies’ preferred host — from public property. Pennsylvania has also established a quarantine meant to limit the bugs’ spread.”

You can find out more information about the Spotted Lanternfly here at the PA Department of Agriculture. Here is a link to the full report from Penn State.