PLAINS TOWNSHIP -- Many folks in our area are once again dealing with defoliation. Gypsy moth caterpillars have stripped the leaves from the trees, and in some areas, the trees are bare like it's winter.
The hillsides all along the valley between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre are marked with bare spots left behind by gypsy moth caterpillars.
Those bugs are just winding down their destruction for this season, but we found they did quite a bit of damage.
Thousands of gypsy moth caterpillars have stripped every leaf from some trees in Luzerne County.
"It hurts. It hurts. It makes a heck of a mess, terrible," said John Sinavage.
He is devastated seeing his favorite oak tree in his back yard in Plains Township stripped of leaves, and others around his house damaged, too.
It's a similar story for his neighbors near the VA Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre.
"It's devastating. You can look and see what they've done. I mean the trees that had beautiful foliage is gone," said Mary Ann Pistack.
She usually has a summer view of thick foliage. Now it's just bare branches, and a driveway lined with dead leaves, making it look like fall.
She treated some small trees and was able to protect them, but says joining a state and county sponsored program to spray properties cost too much.
"To pay to have it done, to spray it, nobody up here could afford it really."
There are bare spots on the hillside all along Interstate 81 near Wilkes-Barre, but just to the south, the state sprayed a spot near Nuangola, and it has little damage.
The damage has been done to the trees this summer, but many of them will re-bloom, will get more leaves this year, but a couple seasons of gypsy moth damage can kill the tree.
Robert Murawski and a lot of neighbors would hate to lose trees for good, but do fear these caterpillars will only get worse.
"If you don't get them now, there will be three times that next year," he said.
Luzerne County will decide soon if it will offer a spraying program again next year.
Other counties also provided spraying through the state this year, but for private properties, that can cost hundreds of dollars.
