Oaks & Gypsy Moths

Gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) love oaks, and their caterpillars can strip a tree of its leaves in short order.

Some local governments spray to control the moths, typically using BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) applied while the caterpillars are still small - BT is not effective on caterpillars that are mature. There is a good summary of the pros and cons of BT available on the Ohio State University website.

Mature gypsy moths have a yellow-ish head, and distinct red and blue spots down their backs. In the photo, you can see one on a man's hand for scale.

They are similar in appearance to other caterpillars that you are likely to see in woods, such as the Eastern tent caterpillar and the Forest tent caterpillar.

The Eastern tent caterpillar makes silk tents, and favors cherry trees, apples and crabapples. These are native to the US, and while the tents may look bad, the insects rarely harm trees.

The Forest tent caterpillar has a blue head, blue sides to its body, and prominent yellow or white spots down the center of its back. This is a native species that favors aspens, sugar maple, oaks, birch & black gum trees.

Both of the native woodland caterpillars lay their eggs in a dark mass wrapped around twigs. The gypsy moths lay their eggs in a 1-3 inch long mass on the bark of the tree. The egg mass is tan, and covered with fine hairs.

If you see gypsy moth caterpillars, destroy them. If you notice egg masses on the bark of a tree, scrape them off into a container and either bury or burn them. Each egg mass contains from 100-1,000 eggs!

Here is a link to additional information on a Michigan State University website:
gypsy moth control & management.

IF YOU SEE A GYPSY MOTH IN ANYSTAGE OF LIFE CALL the Illinois Department of Agriculture TOLL FREE: 1-866-296-MOTH(6684)

Now Coming to a Town Near You

I heard/saw the most wonderful presentation earlier today by author Gina Olszowski who spoke about her first book: Now Coming to a Town Near You: Voices of Urban Sprawl.

Gina is a Geneva native, alumna of Drake University with a background in advertising, and a passion for photography.

Growing up, Gina watched as the Geneva area turned from "the country" to the suburbs, and she wondered why - even though all of the adults she knew were sad every time a farm was developed - farms continued to be developed, one after another.

She started taking pictures and talking to people - farmers, residents, elected officials, urban planners, etc. She started to connect the dots. This wasn't really the landscape that people wanted, but they felt helpless to do anything, and that made them sad - sad for the things lost, sad for the memories of their time on the land that others would never share - and sometimes, sad that they just stood by and let it happen.

What is this "it"? Many call it sprawl, but after looking at just a few pages of the book, and reading a few of the personal stories, I think I want to start calling it "urban creep." Lots of folks seemed to be saying that the growth and change just kind of crept up on them, and before they knew it, everything they once knew was gone.

(I like "urban creep" too because of the word creep - it is so definitely a negative word, isn't it? A person can sprawl out on a bed or a couch, and that isn't bad, but when traffic creeps along, or insects are creepy, or a person is a creep, it isn't good.)

We have a copy of the book in the office, and I gave one to Arlene at Read Between the Lynes bookstore on the Woodstock Square, and hope that she will even have a "meet the author" type event and start carrying Gina's books.

You can also order them through Gina's website: http://www.atownnearyou.com/ - $19.95 plus tax & shipping. And being a community-minded person, she is donating two-thirds of the profit to The Conservation Foundation - a land conservation group in Naperville (kind of like TLC but larger, and covering several counties).

Oh, and did I mention that Gina is 24 years old, and she just did this because she thought that there was a story to tell - a story that people needed to hear - a story told by their friends and neighbors - a story being repeated over and over and over again.

"Now Coming to a Town Near You" !! If everyone chose to speak up about the change they are seeing, and to make different choices in their lives, we could stop the creep from coming to the towns near us!