60 Spotted Lanternfly Traps Installed At Basking Ridge Parks

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Basking Ridge residents and high school students recently teamed up to build and install 60 spotted lanternfly traps at township parks.

The Spotted Lanternfly Park Project was launched by the Bernards Township Environmental Commission (EC).

The commission had previously worked on educating residents about the spotted lanternfly but wanted to do more.

"We thought what can we do aside from bringing awareness of it?" said EC Chair Debra DeWitt to Patch. "We all know we are not going to eradicate them. But we wanted to offer some measures as opposed to throwing up your hands."

Since the township parks are pesticide-free, Dewitt said the commission wanted to take another approach to trap the invasive insects.

"We wanted to create our own traps to install at parks and educate residents on more holistic ways to kill nymphs," said DeWitt.

The commission tried making two different versions one offered by the Penn State Extension and one created by Duke Farms in partnership with Patch.

"We wanted to see which one would essentially build a better mouse trap," said Dewitt.

Ultimately, Duke Farm's version was easier and used less material.

The commission built 60 traps with the help of Environmental Commission Members and residents:

• Debra DeWitt (EC)
• Todd Edelstein (EC)
• Nancy Cook (EC)
• Janet Ashnault (resident)
• Erin Cuyun (resident)
• Dave DeSimone (resident)
• Marian DeSimone (resident)
• Wendy Golding (resident)
• Chris Greene (resident)
• Michelle Lesperance (resident)
• Nathalie Roccatti (resident)
• Annmarie Rudis (resident)

On June 1, Kate Creegan and Al Werner from Shade Tree Commission walked Pleasant Valley, Harry Dunham and Mountain Parks and marked the trees that would be candidates for traps.

On June 2, on Ridge Gives Back Day, the EC oversaw the installation of the traps at the three parks by Ridge High School students. Each park had 20 traps installed.

"While there are certainly many more trees that could have been tagged, our goal was to install on vulnerable trees at/near parking, walking paths, sports fields. It was great to experience the enthusiasm of the students," said DeWitt.

Residents are encouraged to visit the parks and inspect a trap. There are information cards attached to each trap that explain the life cycle, what can be done during each cycle, and a QR code that points to a video of how to build the traps.

"It's satisfying to have some kind of solution over something we don't have a lot of control over," said DeWitt. "I hope residents feel when the worst of the lanternflies come in the summer that they know that we tried."

To learn more about this initiative contact the Environmental Commission at bernards.org/boards/environmental. Or to make your own Duke Farms trap click here for directions and a video.

To make the trap you will need the following materials:

• Plastic one-gallon jugs (ex. a milk or water jug that can be cut with scissors) (quantity: 2)
• Rubber bands, 0.5" thick (quantity: 2)
• Piece of 16 gauge metal wire, 22" long (quantity: 1)
• Plastic coated screen (such as window screen replacement), 24" x 36" (quantity: 1)
• Ziplock bag, 2.5 gallons (quantity: 1)
• All-weather tape, 6" long (quantity: 1)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• All-natural string or twine to tie the trap up

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