DC-area spotted lanternfly population may dwindle in coming years

WASHINGTON - Some potentially good news for D.C.-area residents who are tired of spotted lanternflies: They aren’t going away altogether, but we may see fewer of them within the next several years.

What we know:

Spotted lanternflies are an invasive species, and they hurt various plants. They first showed up in the U.S. in 2014 in Pennsylvania. 

Arlington, Virginia, officials said they first noticed them locally about three years ago.

Here's where the good news comes in:

As previously reported by Arlington Now, Alonso Abugattas, natural resources manager for Arlington County Parks, believes that wildlife – mostly birds, bats, and spiders – are learning to feed on the spotted lanternflies. This is happening in conjunction with the removal of tree of heaven, which is the spotted lanternflies’ preferred host.

So, largely based on data out of Pennsylvania, Abugattas thinks the region is likely to get a couple more years of spotted lanternfly build-up before the population stabilizes, and locals won’t have to deal with nearly as many of the insects as they do now.

What they're saying:

"They’re never going to go away," Abugattas explained. "I made that comment, once the genie’s out of the bottle, the genie’s out of the bottle, but they’re gonna stabilize, and we will see less of them, and that is kind of what’s happened in other places."

In the meantime, Abugattas is urging people not to try to catch spotted lanternflies using sticky traps. Reason being, he said they've seen them used in several parks, and unfortunately, several birds have mistakenly been caught in the traps too.

Virginia