French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust was proud to invite the community to join in an educational evening with Dr. Heather Leach, a Penn State University Extension spotted lanternfly expert, most recently interviewed in the Wall Street Journal. In partnership with Historic Yellow Springs, over 80 community members gathered to discuss Penn State University’s latest findings.
Spotted Lanternfly Education
Dr. Leach helped the audience to identify the difference between male and female spotted lanternflys, understand their diet, reproductive and migratory patterns, and measure the potential threat the insect poses to our environment-specifically to the Ailanthus tree and fruit-producing trees. The Spotted Lanternfly is an invasive species that is native to parts of China, India, Vietnam, and eastern Asia. Because the Spotted Lanternfly’s only known predator is human interaction, and the females can lay eggs on any surface, the population is disproportionately high.
