The Student Leadership Council (SLC), a program of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), has launched the Squish Squad, joining efforts throughout Pennsylvania to contain and eradicate the invasive spotted lanternfly.
A total of 34 counties in the commonwealth are under quarantine by the state Department of Agriculture. Residents and businesses are encouraged to learn how to stop the spread of the insect, which damages trees, vines, and other plants and which poses a threat to agriculture.
The Squish Squad is using the three-pronged approach of advocacy, awareness, and action in its campaign against the spotted lanternfly. The effort by high school students complements a variety of approaches already in place throughout the commonwealth that are designed to eradicate the pests, which first showed up in Pennsylvania in 2014.
On the Squish Squad's first educational and scouting trip earlier this summer in Lancaster County, students found a few spotted lanternflies in their black and white-spotted nymph stage, charted the insects' locations, and then squashed them. Students also spent time learning more about the insects and planning activities for late summer and fall.
The Squad plans to partner with county conservation districts and nature preserves. It also intends to lead workshops on how to build spotted lanternfly traps using materials found around the home. A project working group is taking photos of spotted lanternflies in various life stages for a pamphlet the students plan to produce.
CBF's Student Leadership Program and participation in the Squish Squad is open to high school students and is designed to give them a voice and an active role in clean water efforts in Pennsylvania.
For more information about the spotted lanternfly, visit http://www.agriculture.pa/gov/spottedlanternfly.
CBF student leaders previously spearheaded a three-year campaign of advocacy, awareness, and action that led to the Eastern hellbender being designated as Pennsylvania's official state amphibian in 2019. The students' campaign was designed to protect the salamander and increase awareness of the critical need to reduce pollution in Pennsylvania's rivers and streams. Hellbenders are an indicator species for clean water as they survive where there is cold, clear, swift-running water.
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