Lantern flies are an invasive species plaguing North America, and Fauquier County is no exception. These “harmless-looking” flies can wreak havoc on our environment. The flies do this by sucking the sap out of essential plants and then their excrements transmit fungal disease to plants. Lantern flies’ primary food source is sap so people with many trees on their property should keep an eye out for these pesky nuisances. Lantern flies should be killed on site by stomping on them due to their harmful environmental impacts. The flies’ sap can also turn into a black mold that can be a pain to remove, leaving this substance everywhere. These insects are mostly a significant risk to farmers, however, these insects can also affect people who have gardens as well.
According to the University of Cornell, there have been reports of these pesky insects wiping out grape fields and plenty of other crops. This is a huge problem because if farmers are not able to produce enough crops because their entire field has been wiped out this can lead to shortages in our grocery stores. Despite this shortage not reaching Fauquier County yet, that doesn’t mean that the lantern flies won’t migrate from surrounding counties. This also affects the exportation of these products. If the farmers have no supply then stores that rely on a sole producer will be left empty-handed due to the plaque of lantern flies. Ensure these awful bugs are killed on-site for the farmers and the environment.
Science Teacher Don Echenrode stated, “There isn’t much we can do because of the environmental impacts that pesticides pose and will do more harm than good.” The best way people can combat these invasive species is simply to kill every lantern fly seen and eventually, they will migrate out of the Fauquier area. Eckenrode also commented, “The sap they produce invites other harmful insects to the Fauquier environment.” This makes the lantern flies even more of a pest than just simply destroying plants. Fauquier is filled with farmlands and these insects will continue to ravage Fauquier if not killed whenever seen.
