Photo: Crow with inchworm, Khoin via Pixabay
By Katherine Wychulis
Dr. Doug Tallamy, author of the groundbreaking “Bringing Nature Home,” has weighed in on Fairfax County’s insecticide spraying program which targets the native fall cankerworm (a moth) caterpillar, also referred to as the inchworm.
Since 2000 and in several other years, Fairfax County has sprayed thousands of acres with insecticide targeting this caterpillar. The insecticide is deadly to all exposed butterfly and moth caterpillars.
Dr. Tallamy points out that insects are declining everywhere they are being measured, and a major cause is the misuse and overuse of insecticides. Migrating and resident songbirds are also in rapid decline, and they depend heavily on caterpillars for re-fueling or for feeding chicks.
Dr. Tallamy says that because “birds are such important predators of caterpillars, bird declines create a negative feed-back loop that encourages cankerworm outbreaks.” Natural conditions will eventually bring insect populations under control but spraying disrupts these cycles and causes outbreaks to be prolonged.
Audubon has been working since 2013 to end this wasteful and harmful county program.
Read Dr. Tallamy’s letter here.