Tacoma’s Tent Caterpillar Plague
A horticultural emergency prompts city officials to order residents to prune or burn infested branches as an invasive pest threatens to strip the city’s trees.
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The tent caterpillar pest in Tacoma is increasing and reports from Parkland and Spanaway are to the effect that the caterpillars have appeared there in large numbers. Horticultural Commissioner Van Holderbeke has a number of deputies at work notifying property owners to cut off the branches of trees and plants where the caterpillars exist and burn them. If this is not done at once, the commissioner will employ deputies to do the work and charge it to the property owners. If the pests are not eradicated within the next ten days, they are liable to extend over the entire county. Mr. Van Holderbeke says: 'Nobody can tell where they will turn next. They feed at night only and the morning is the best time to kill them. This is a very serious pest, and if not eradicated at once it will prove a real menace to vegetation. They appeared two weeks ago in Old Town, were noticed last Sunday in Wright Park, and are now going to the south of the city.'
“This is a very serious pest, and if not eradicated at once it will prove a real menace to vegetation.”
Invasive species remain a recurring concern for Tacoma’s urban canopy, with the city frequently engaging in public education campaigns to manage pests like the gypsy moth or the European chafer beetle. The threat to Wright Park then mirrors modern efforts to protect the city’s green spaces against changing climate and ecological disruption.
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