EDA warns – Beware the Spotted Lanternfly: identify, report & kill

The threat to the county, regional and even state economies is huge, despite the tiny size of the bringer of that threat was stressed by Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Board of Directors Vice Chairman Jeff Browne during a Communications Committee Report Friday morning, January 24.

The size of the economic threat from the spread of the 1-inch by half-inch Spotted Lanternfly was vividly indicated by Browne’s report of a $500,000,000 (or half a billion dollar) impact on Pennsylvania’s economy last year. The distinctive and tiny bug normally indigenous to China dating to the 12th century and also found in India, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, was first reported in the U.S. in September 2014 in Pennsylvania.

It was first reported in Virginia in Frederick County in 2018. In 2017 it was identified in single counties in Delaware and New York. It was also reported in New Jersey in 2018, the same year it was identified on 2,080 acres in Frederick County across our northern county border.

To illustrate the Spotted Lanternfly’s threat to Warren County from our north, Browne noted that by 2019 it had spread to 8,000 acres in Frederick County with a projection of infestation of 40,000 acres there in 2020.

Photo courtesy of College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.

Browne’s inclusion of the Spotted Lanternfly in his Communications Committee Report came just two days after a multi-agency presentation at the Virginia Inland Port on the presence and threat to agricultural industries here from the Spotted Lanternfly. It is believed the bug’s ability to rapidly spread comes from a variety of factors, including its wide range of host plants (70 species); a lack of natural native enemies in newly invaded areas; and an ability to hitch rides on vehicles and on shipping packaging.

“The lanternfly’s sustenance is the sap in plant vines – favorites are the Tree of Heaven and grape vines, but they can also be found on black walnut, apple and cherry trees,” Browne reported. He pointed out that parts of Pennsylvania and Frederick County are currently under quarantine requiring physical inspection of commercial vehicles leaving those designated areas.

Involved in that Wednesday afternoon presentation at the Inland Port in northern Warren County were Amanda Bly of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs; Mark Sutphin, Extension Agent for Warren, Clarke, Shenandoah and Page Counties; as well as two landowners from Winchester and Frederick County.

“The focus was on getting the word out on how to identify the lanternfly in its four stages and informing businesses and homeowners what to do when they are found,” Browne told his board and three county supervisors present, Walter Mabe, Cheryl Cullers and Delores Oates.

Browne acknowledged Front Royal Community Development Director Felicia Hart’s role in the Wednesday lanternfly presentation at the Virginia Inland Port. The presence of the inland port here, and the port’s connection to Interstates 66 and 81 for truck transport of Virginia-based goods regionally points to the potential danger of the Spotted Lanternfly’s arrival in Warren County.

Jeff Browne explains the Spotted Lanternfly problem with EDA board. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

“We were glad you could work with the Town on this,” EDA Board Chairman Ed Daley told his vice chairman, though there were no representatives from the Town present to hear that sentiment expressed. Following County Administrator Doug Stanley’s monthly update on County projects, it was asked if a PDF or hard copy of the monthly Town Report generally presented by the Town Manager had been sent to the EDA office for the meeting. EDA Administrative Assistant Gretchen Henderson indicated she had not received one.

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