By West Side Rag and Jeff French Segall
By this point, Upper West Siders know about Spotted Lanternflies.
The gray, red, and black-spotted insects first appeared in Pennsylvania in 2014, and then in New York City in July 2020. Since that arrival, the invasive species has returned each year to the five boroughs.
Most Upper West Siders will also be familiar with the guidance surrounding the Spotted Lanternflies.
“You should kill any Spotted Lanternfly you see by stepping on or crushing it,” says the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Spotted Lanternflies are an invasive species and damage plants and crops by drinking their sap. They also multiply at a particularly fast rate.
This week, longtime West Side Rag contributor and photographer Jeff French Segall was walking in Central Park when he came across an infestation of the Spotted Lanternflies at the west edge of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir at about 88th Street.
“They were amassed there. I’d have stayed longer but the rain suddenly came pouring down,” Segall wrote. “I returned drenched to the skin. But it was worth it!”
And worth it was, for the following photos.
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Well, if the Central Park Conservancy puts up signs saying “Spotted Lanternflies Not Allowed,” or even better, signs with big red circles and lines through them under pictures of SLFs, that will make the flies go away.