Pandora moths return to Central Oregon as caterpillars

Pandora moths have returned to Central Oregon, but this year in caterpillar form.

Last summer, Central Oregon saw a huge number of moths covering nearly everything. Now, they’ve laid eggs, and their eggs have hatched.

So now they are 3-inch-long caterpillars, hungry for lodgepole and Ponderosa pine needles.

Once they’ve eaten their fill, they’ll head underground to cocoon themselves until next year.

Forest Service entomologist Rob Flowers said Monday not to worry about their seemingly large appetite, as they usually stick to eating old needles and tend to leave the new growth alone.

“They tend to recover,” he said. “We have this long history of Pandora moths occurring in Central Oregon. So for the most part, the only time we’ve seen any kind of tree mortality is if there is a really severe drought or ongoing bark beetle outbreaks or other things.”

Central Oregon isn’t the only region with Pandora moth outbreaks. Areas all along the West Coast as well as Arizona see them year after year. They tend to thrive in areas that have pumice rock and volcanic soil, like Central Oregon.

Experts say the moths are not harmful to you or your pets, and they ask that you not use any sort of pesticide to try to get rid of them.

Pandora moths do play a part in our ecosystem — and that is, being eaten.

“There’s a lot of animals and birds and other insects that eat Pandora moths, so usually they will restore the balance and bring those populations back down to what we consider normal backgrounds in just a few years,” Flowers said.

For the next few weeks, they’ll eat pine needles from Ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees. That will cause some tree damage, but usually not enough to kill the tree.

And just wait until next year: Flowers said to expect a large number of flying moths sometime next summer.