Catskills Defoiliation

I was up to the Catskills last week and I noticed a pervasive amount of defoiliation. In tens years of hiking up there I have never seen anything like it.
The tent caterpillars were everywhere; crawling on trees, dropping out of the sky and floating down every stream. Some areas are worst then others.

Anyone have any information about the western catskills?

I saw the samething (not up close) driving up I-89 in Vermont last weekend. Between exit 1 and 2 (near Sharon), most of the Southeast slopes had major sections of defoiliation.

I noticed the same thing last month when I hiked the Devil's Path. One of the guys I was with said it was from the gypsy moth, an invasive species. They had already done a big number on the trees.

Here's a link with more information

The caterpillar/defoliation problem has been getting worse in the Catskills over the last three years. I have noticed it primarily on the lower slopes of the Esopus Valley (along Route 28). It was fairly prominent at Belleayre on 6/19/05 on the lower elevations, perhaps up to 2200', but no problem above that. I have not been further west recently. The problem is not as bad in the northern Catskills (perhaps because there are fewer oaks), but the gypsy moths are there also.

I recall the defoliation during the original gypsy moth invasion in the 1980s as being much worse than the current problem. The Esopus Valley was the primary battleground then also.

Iwas camping near Freeport, ME three weeks ago and torched about six different tent caterpillar nests. I love doing that.

I've been told that we're in the first of a bad 3 year cycle for tent caterpillers. There was a real infestation about 10-15 years ago and it hasn't been bad since.

I used to come across caterpillar nests while I was working at a state park. My favorite method of destruction was the weed whacker.

Gypsy moth caterpillars run in 7 year cycles. Eastern Massachusetts got hit hard in 1986. I can't remember any year as bad as that one. They are probably at the peak of their cycle in the Catskills.

Back in the middle of May, my wife and I found a caterpillar tent in the back yard. We ripped it open so they couldn't share heat. I was convinced that they would perish in the cold that night. Remember that weather?

Saw a bunch up in Greylock this past weekend. As a kid, I remember we used to be mean and step on them til their guts would pop out of their head (or tail, equal opportunity squisher)

Like Quack, my father used to burn them when they would tent up in our apple tree. they are very flamable!

Jay

In Pennsylvania, in 1994 the NorthCentral region got slammed by the Elm Span worm Elm Spanworm
I remember hiking and having a half dozen crawling or hanging from your pack and shoulders - We were carrying sticks (this was before I started using hiking sticks) to sweep across in front of us to clear the hanging worms as we hiked. W'd stop for breaks and spend our time gingerly plucing them off each other.

In later years I remember millions of the white moths, alighting on everything. You'd shine a light on your tent and see a million little incandescent eyes shining.

There are still parts of forests that look like a hurricane hit, where many trees died due to shock. I think the parts of the Loyalsock still shows these scars.

The ElmSpanworms are different from Eastern Tent Caterpillars. Growing up in the pest control industry, we used to spray the tent caterpillars (but only when the nests/larvae were not mature) with Sevin or Malathion to kill them, but I don't know if the ElmSpanWorm is afffected by pesticides in the larval stage.
They are pretty disgusting to look at - especially when they are all over the trees on your lawn!!!

i wasat devils tombstone, and when I got back home they were in my car and all over my equipment

Free food!

If only more people would realize that these caterpillars are high in protien, and don'T really taste that bad, we wouldn't have this defoliation.

Why eat cows (which consume a lot of resources) when such fine food is available and FREE!

When I was doing the Devil's Path they were very bad. Does anyone know for sure if it is a Gypsy Moth (which I had assumed it was) or Tent Catepillar outbreak that is occuring in the Catskills? I was just curious. I have to second what Adk_dib said in that I was finding them everywhere for a day or so. They even tried to hitch a ride down to the city on my jeep. I made sure to kill everyone I could find when I stopped for gas in Jersey. No need for me to make matters worse by spreading them even further.

Did a little googling. The current defoliation is apparently due to the native forest tent caterpillar. A small excerpt of the June 19, 2005 PoJo News article:

Next year (2006) could be worse for the Catskills, as the caterpillars continue their multi-year boom and bust cycle.

The good news is the infestation end in a couple of years, and probably claim few trees in the process.

The forest tent caterpillar is a native pest, and trees generally survive the infestation.

Click to expand...

The gypsy moth caterpillars are still around, but apparently not the current culprit.

I'm Older Now

Gosh, tell me when it's all over -- I Hate caterpillars. If any one of you hikes Greylock on Monday, you can meet up with me and ask my dad about it. He'll tell you the story about how he had to carry me through Christopher Morley Park in NY once because I was so afraid of the caterpillars on the ground. I must have a phobia. But, now I can point out to him that I'm no longer in my 20's -- I turned 30 and I've grown up a bit.

-Dr. Wu

Good news, the supposedly tasty little buggers are now on the decline, entering the pupal stage. This means that everything you own will be covered with yellow or white cocoons. For the highly motivated and swift of hand , these can be woven into silk like socks ,underwear, pajamas and so forth. (if gypsy moths). So if you can't eat em, wear em.

YEAH, RIGHT PETE!!

Here in the Berkshires, there are caterpillars around, but I haven't seen any defoliation. Yet. We were hiking along the abandoned rail bed in Middlefield a couple of weeks ago, and when we returned to our vehicles, the road was literally covered with cats! It was an amazing site, although a little scary to think about what those little bast#^$@ could do to the trees.

I remember back in the 80's the amount of damage done by Gypsy Moth cats. The entire mountain to the north of N.Adams was denuded of leaves. And yet the following year, the trees were fully leafed out. Another thing I notice is that some areas seem to get infested with cats more than others. Lebanon Valley just to the west of the Rt. 20/ Rt.22 intersection always has tents hanging from the trees.

So it appears that if the cats do defoliate the trees, the damage usually isn't permanent. True or False? Do they have a specie of tree that they prefer? Do they have natural enemies? My understanding is that birds do not enjoy their taste, but that there is a fungus or microbe that keeps them in check. Anyone know about this?

I've always understood that they usually don't do permanent damage to a trre, howere, in periods of extreme weather - drought heat or rain, they may place enough stress on tree that they don't survive. - Something like a co-morbidity??

In the northeast sugar maples leaves appear to be the most desired food source for forest tent caterpillars. Other favorites are aspen, birch, cherry, ash, basswood, and oak.

Predatory beetles, ants, true bugs, spiders, birds, and small animals feed on forest tent caterpillars and pupae. Caterpillars and pupae are attacked by many parasites and some diseases. Polyhedral virus diseases often destroy large numbers of caterpillars, and a protozoan infects larvae. At the height of outbreaks a parasitic fly usually becomes very abundant. A natural fungus also may kill many caterpillars and cause the end of an outbreak. When the trees are completely stripped many caterpillars will starve.

A few references:

• USDA Forest Insect & Disease Leaflet 9
• UMass fact sheet
• NYS DEC report
• Pennsylvania DCNR fact sheet

As mudhook51 pointed out. The caterpillars in the Catskills have now entered their pupae stage, and soon (if not already) will be moths which will only live a few days. So it is once again safe for Dr. Wu to come to the Catskills.

I hiked Sugarloaf and Twin on the Devil's Path today. There was no evidence of any defoliation in this area or in most of the northern Catskills. I could see defoliated areas to the south. Tremper, Tobias, Romer, and Silver Hollow Mountain (just south of Stony Clove) appeared to be very heavily defoliated. A thread last year also mentioned Diamond Notch was hit.

Defoliation

Thanks to everyone who answered this posting and to all the links. I find it fascinating.

All the caterpillars that I saw on my last trip were tent caterpillars. A huge food supply, too bad they really aren't tasty to many critters. Maybe the bears up there could learn to like their taste-