<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family:courier new, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div style="font-family:courier new, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span><p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>Thoughts on the Spotted Lanternfly in Berks County, PA</b></p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>Richard Gardner</b></p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>Sept. 10, 2018</b></p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> From the beginning
of this summer to the present I have been looking for the Spotted Lanternfly in
northwestern Berks County, PA while doing other research. My wife and I over the summer have seen nymphs
at three places: the start of the Fox Trot trail in Blue Marsh, Bernville Sewer
plant and the old elementary school in Shartlesville. The latter having at
least a dozen nymphs. I also saw an adult in August at the Wyomissing Family
Restaurant after having lunch with a friend.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> I walked with the
specific purpose of looking for the SLF on September 4 and 5 in SGL110 near
Shartlesville with negative results, on September 6, along a 1.5 mile stretch
of the loop trail in Blue Marsh on either side of mile 19 with negative results
and on September 8, Blue Marsh at mile 1, (“dog beach”/emergency flood overflow
area), finding an infestation. All these locations are within a few miles of my
home and contain ample <i>Ailanthus</i>
trees.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> What I have learned by
direct observation and from talking with other people is that the SLF is
spreading mostly in suburban and urban areas. This is due to several
conditions;</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><!--[endif]-->Vehicles to transport the SLF over the landscape</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><!--[endif]-->Places people congregate for at least an hour at
a time</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Ailanthus </i>trees</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> Since the SLF is a
hopper, to travel across the landscape the way it is requires vehicles to
hitchhike on. Apparently, it uses flat smooth surfaces such as cars, trucks,
boats and boat trailers. I first saw the SLF at First Energy Stadium in Reading
last fall. People from all over the county, including Boyertown/Oley – the area
of introduction, and surrounding areas congregate here for baseball games and
other events. This brought the SLF from infested areas to a common meeting
place from which it can change vehicles to travel to other areas. From what I
heard it is in similar urban and suburban places that people congregate from
across the county such as restaurants, a campground near Shartlesville and the
old elementary school in Shartlesville (which is now a <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">conservative Anabaptist</span> church). Additionally,
I heard that at the stilling basin in Blue Marsh the <i>Ailanthus</i> trees had SLF egg masses last fall, which is the reason
we walked from there on September 8. This last mentioned location is a place
people congregate from across the county to fish as it is one of the few county
lakes with public access.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> <i>Ailanthus</i> trees are ubiquitous in Berks County. So, there is always
an available food supply. The two contiguous parts of SGL110 which I walked for
several miles are remote dirt roads which are open only during hunting season
starting in mid-September. No SLF was found there. The 1-1/2 miles of Blue
Marsh I walked was parallel to a major artery, Rt. 183. Even though it is a
major road, few people stop along it, including in the minor towns, because it
is mostly a commuter route from Schuylkill County to Reading in Berks County and
between Rt. 222 and I-78.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> Contrasting the SLF
with the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug is the difference between a flyer which
occasionally hitchhikes and a hopper which must hitchhike to spread. Both were
first found within 30 miles of my home. Where I live we have had hundreds, if
not thousands of BMSB. (They have forced me to rethink how I garden and what
vegetables to grow. This means that there will be early producing beans such as
bush varieties instead of later pole varieties and non-red cherry tomatoes as red
cherry tomatoes appear to be a preferred food more than other tomato types.) Another
difference between the two insects is that the BMSB is supposed to have 2 or 3
generations per year as opposed to just one generation per year for the SLF.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal">BMSB easily spreads across the landscape on its own. SLF
does not. A further note is that in our vegetable garden we are seeing much
smaller stages of the BMSB predominating at the present than in past years.
This may be possibly due to the amount of rain and overcast days we have had
this summer.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> Japanese stilt grass
and mile-a-minute are plant contrasts similar to the SLF and BMSB. To spread
across the landscape under normal conditions Japanese stilt grass moves on
either shoes or occasionally vehicles and down vernal waterflows. I see it along
the trails and dirt roads in SGL110. Most of these distances are relatively
short. In contrast as is evident in SGL110 in Tilden Township, mile-a-minute is
spread by birds along the ridge and a dirt road near the top of the ridge. The
berries are consumed by birds and obviously left behind at roosts when the
birds take flight. The fall migration route along the ridge and roosts the
birds use are obvious by the density of mile-a-minute.</p>
<p class="ydp8f0335cfMsoNormal"> The “quarantine” of
the SLF was nothing but a pathetic Trump-like joke. Like the wavy leaf basket
grass, once the SLF was established there was nothing which could be done about
it. Convincing people that they could make a difference with NRA-like fear
propaganda erodes our position as scientists in our society and increases the
distrust scientists like me have of our scientific and political leadership.
The only people who will benefit are investors in pesticide companies like
Monsanto. Right now, the only reasonable course of action besides intelligently
educating people about this issue is to take the time to do science; patiently
study the SLF over at least several years with the forlorn hope of preventing
similar issues in the future.</p></span></div></div></body></html>