'Is this the year of another caterpillargeddon?' People in northern B.C. are spotting more tent caterpillars

CBC

a day ago

In trees, gardens, and even on sidewalks — people across northern B.C. are spotting dark-coloured, fuzzy caterpillars with little spots on their backs and wondering if another tent caterpillar outbreak is on the horizon.
From Prince George to Taylor, people are posting pictures of them on social media, asking if this will be the year the insects return in mass numbers.
Chad Wiebe works at the Two Rivers Art Gallery in downtown Prince George and he said he's noticed tent caterpillars dangling from the trees that line the sidewalk in front of the building.
"They are a little bit creepy when they are just hanging about and they can get in your hair and fall on you."
Dodging tent caterpillars as he's heading into work isn't a new experience for Wiebe, who said he's familiar with the population booms that have plagued the city in the past.
"Every time they appear, we end up getting a pressure washer to make sure our house is cleared off," he said.
The last caterpillar population boom in the region happened during the spring and summer seasons between 2010 and 2014 — when streets, sidewalks, trees and buildings were covered with the insects.
The caterpillars feed on deciduous trees, and build silk tents where they live communally, before cocooning and turning into moths in late summer.
Dezene Huber, an entomologist at the University of Northern British Columbia, said they often go unnoticed when they first hatch because they're quite small.
"As they grow, we start to see them in these clusters, living in these little tents that they make out of silk."
Huber said it's natural for tent caterpillars to experience a population explosion every decade or so but when exactly that will happen is not easy to predict as a lot of factors like bad weather and disease can impact a caterpillar's ability to survive.
"When the dice rolls the right way usually you get a big boom in caterpillar numbers and then they get knocked back again," he said.
"It depends how these various dice roll and sometimes all the right numbers come up and we end up with a big explosion of them for a few years."
Tent caterpillars aren't limited to northern B.C. The city of Edmonton is also currently seeing more tent caterpillars this year.
WATCH | Tent caterpillars in Edmonton:
Tent caterpillars taking over Edmonton
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Huber recently saw a cluster of western tent caterpillars on a rosebush during his walk to work, but he said he isn't sure if this year will be the start of another outbreak in the region.
"I think people are noticing them a bit more right now. We might be heading into an outbreak coming up in the next year or so we'll have to see what happens."
Huber said even if there is another tent caterpillar outbreak brewing, they are relatively harmless as most trees are able to survive losing their leaves entirely for a year or two.
"Everyone sort of loves to hate them," he said. "No one likes having caterpillar poop dripping on them and sliding around the dead caterpillars, but it is a pretty interesting phenomenon to witness."