The cicadas are coming!
Millions of buzzing pests are about to invade
By Courtney Flynn and John Biemer
Tribune staff reporters
Published April 10, 2007
Unless you want the company of a million buzzing wedding crashers, you might want to reconsider exchanging vows in the park this spring.
And painting a house or holding a big Memorial Day picnic might not be the best idea either.
Beginning in late May, droves of red-eyed winged periodical cicadas that have been living underground for 17 years are expected all at once to tunnel through the dirt and make their way up the sides of trees and any other vertical surface. Then they'll shed their exoskeletons and start their loud, characteristic whirring.
For about six weeks, the adult cicadas' sole purpose will be to search out mates and lay eggs in tree branches before they die, only to have their offspring begin the same cycle and reappear in 2024.
"A periodical cicada emergence is one of the most unusual and spectacular events on earth," said Tom Hahn, executive director of the Lake County Forest Preserve District. "Cicada mania will dominate every water cooler conversation . . . from May through July."
In Lake County, the forest preserve district is spending $40,000 to make sure people are ready. On Monday, they unveiled their education efforts, including a 2 1/2-foot by 4-foot recycled steel cicada sculpture donated by a Wisconsin artist, a short documentary film and a new CicadaMobile. The white trailer covered with cicada pictures will travel to schools and libraries to teach children and others about the insects.
Preparations are under way elsewhere too.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is planning a Cicada Citizen Scientist Program in which residents can report sightings to help produce a countywide map in time for the next emergence. The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park has rearranged its summer schedule, moving some concerts indoors so the buzz of cicadas won't overpower the music.
This spring's cicada brood is expected to come out once the soil reaches 65 degrees in northern Illinois and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana. They will mostly be in areas that were heavily wooded during the last emergence in 1990.
Unlike annual cicadas, which mature and emerge at different times, periodical cicadas appear all at once. Sometimes mistakenly referred to as 17-year locusts, periodical cicadas are related to leafhoppers, not locusts, which are a type of grasshopper. They have red eyes instead of the green eyes of the annual ones.
In Chicago, the cicadas probably will emerge mostly in older parks with established trees, such as North Park Village, Jackson Park and Humboldt Park, predicted Zhanna Yermakov, natural areas manager for the city's Park District.
Suburbs with lots of trees had as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre in 1990, said Melissa Senf, an environmental educator hired by the Lake County Forest Preserve District just to teach about the cicadas.
While cicadas can be bothersome, there is some good news: They don't bite, don't carry diseases and if your dog munches on a few, there's no need to worry.
The cicadas also won't hurt established trees, but they can damage new plants and trees. Residents can wrap any vulnerable greenery in cheesecloth to help protect it or wait until fall to plant.
The Morton Arboretum in Lisle already has been fielding five to 10 phone calls a day to its free plant clinic line from people seeking advice on how to deal with cicadas.
The arboretum plans mostly to let nature take its course on its grounds, although arborists will wrap about 45 younger trees, 10 feet tall or shorter, in fine mesh netting from the soil up to protect them when the cicadas slit open twigs or branches to lay eggs in June.
Overall, though, the cicadas won't cause a lot of harm this spring.
"It's not something we need to be scared of at all," Senf said.
Some 2nd graders from Sprague Elementary School in Lincolnshire who got a sneak peak Monday at Lake County's CicadaMobile exhibits didn't seem frightened in the least.
Aaron Kennerley, 7, of Lake Forest, used a magnifying glass to get a closer look at a display of cicadas saved from the last emergence.
"I think they're cool," Aaron said. "I like that their eyes are red; they're a cool insect."
Not everyone is as excited as Aaron.
Phil Nixon, an extension entomologist for the University of Illinois, based in Urbana, said some who were around 17 years ago are dreading the invasion.
"I got a call a few years ago from a lady who wanted to know when they were coming back because last time she had to use a snow shovel to clear them off her sidewalk," he said. "So, that gives you a pretty good clue. And that was in Chicago."
And don't forget about all the brides whose hopes of having that dream summer wedding under the trees might be dashed.
"I remember you could be standing next to somebody, and it'd be hard to hear; it's that loud," said Fredric Miller, a Morton Arboretum research associate and professor of horticulture at Joliet Junior College. "I've had people say, 'I've got a June wedding planned.' Well, be prepared: I'll be a big racket, and they'll be flying around."
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