Policy changes, research findings, spread alerts, and season updates — curated for the DMV and beyond.
Adult Season 2026 is ACTIVE
Population counts are above average in Arlington, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia suburbs.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture expanded its spotted lanternfly quarantine to all 24 counties, making Maryland the latest state to place its entire territory under restriction. The order requires businesses and individuals transporting regulated articles to obtain a permit and follow compliance protocols.
Maryland Department of AgricultureVirginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services determined spotted lanternfly had established statewide to a degree that made quarantine zones no longer an effective management tool. The decision shifts state strategy from containment to management and public education.
Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer ServicesPenn State Cooperative Extension released an updated growing degree day model for 2026 that now includes adult emergence forecasts broken down by county. The enhanced model gives land managers and homeowners earlier warning for peak adult flight windows.
Penn State CEI SLF Forecast ToolThe updated USDA APHIS national distribution map confirms spotted lanternfly presence in 19 states. The 2025 map is the most comprehensive distribution dataset released to date.
SourceSLF expanded into new Midwest territory in 2024, with first detections confirmed in states previously outside its known range. Cargo transport remains the suspected primary vector for these long-distance jumps.
SourceA USDA ARS study on the parasitoid wasp Anastatus orientalis — a natural enemy of SLF in its native range — found encouraging host specificity results in early US trials. Researchers caution that field release is still years away.
SourceNew Jersey rescinded its mandatory spotted lanternfly kill order, pivoting to a management-focused strategy that emphasizes reporting, host plant removal, and targeted treatment rather than broad kill mandates.
SourceCommunity science platform iNaturalist crossed 500,000 verified spotted lanternfly observations, marking a major milestone for citizen-driven invasive species tracking. Researchers are increasingly using the dataset for population modeling.
SourceThe EPA cleared a new circle trap design specifically engineered for spotted lanternfly monitoring, improving on earlier adhesive-band methods that often captured non-target species including birds and beneficial insects.
SourcePenn State Cooperative Extension
Penn State Cooperative Extension documented above-average adult populations in central Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey during the 2025 season peak. The report attributes higher counts to mild overwintering conditions and recommends aggressive egg mass scraping programs beginning in October.
Visit research sourceUSDA Forest Service
USDA Forest Service researchers published a predictive spread model projecting SLF's westward expansion through the Ohio River Valley and into Great Lakes states by 2028–2030. The study uses highway network data combined with forest composition layers to identify highest-risk transport corridors.
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