KAMLOOPS – It may sound like rain falling into Bob Blyth’s backyard pool, but the truth might make some people’s skin crawl.

What fell from the sky Wednesday are dozens of small tussock moth caterpillars that are killing the 100 plus Douglas fir trees on Blyth’s Barnhartvale property.

“I’ve never seen it rain caterpillars before,” said son-in-law James Aitken.

“It’s an infestation of biblical proportions. First it was the pine beetle. Now the firs are going too.”

His in-laws spent $1,400 removing seven pine beetle infested trees from the property two years ago. Now Aitken is looking to fall every one of the fir trees that have become prey to the caterpillars.

He walked the Todd Road property Wednesday, showing off the carpet of dead fir needles and little granules of caterpillar feces that coat the ground, barbecue and deck furniture.

“This is bad. This is a bad infestation,” said Aitken.

Then there are the caterpillars. Aitken points to the underside of the deck’s roof where hundreds of the creatures creep about.

“We swept that off this morning,” said Aitken’s wife, Joanne McDonald.

She said the trees were green two months ago and only one or two of the tussock caterpillars were spotted on the property.

Now the insect is everywhere: on the fence, on the trees, on the side of the house. Blyth pointed at a sidewalk where a line of caterpillars crawled toward his home.

“”I kill them every day, but it does no good. They just keep coming,” he said.

Once the trees started to die, they died fast. McDonald said at one point she could sit outside and watch the trees change colour.

Aitken said he phoned the forest service when the first caterpillars appeared. He was told the service would spray the area with a virus deadly to the tussock caterpillars in June.

When Aitken mentioned the trees, he was told not to cut them down because trees can survive a tussock attack. He doesn’t see how that is possible, he said.

“All forestry said is it will run the course,” said Aitken.

Karen Federau said the trees can be saved. She owns a rental property on Pratt Road that was overrun with the tussock moth last year.

Federau and her neighbours rented a pesticide sprayer in June. She said that knocked the tussocks’ numbers down.

And she spoke with Lorraine Maclauchlan, an entomologist with the B.C. Forest Service, who said fir trees will survive an infestation, but it could take three years before they are green again.

Federau said the trees need water. She’s watered hers constantly and they are coming back to life.

“Our trees are amazingly good,” she said.

The problem, she said, is residents are pretty much on their own. Neither the province nor the City will spray on private property.

“It’s a huge problem. There is nobody to help you,” said Federau.

Kamloops Daily News