Moab

On our camping trip to Moab we saw these nests everywhere.

The spraying 20 years ago was effective in reducing the infestation to a manageable level and seemed to do so for quite a while. That is, until now. Merrill Brady told me last week that he is inundated with tent caterpillars this year. His property is down by the greenbelt lots and the caterpillars are stripping the 60-foot cottonwoods and all other vegetation of all of their leaves.

A small, furry rodent — the vole — is showing up throughout Utah as this year’s record amount of snow melts. Orchards, residential lawns, pastures, and golf course lawns are feeling the brunt of the vole’s activity. Voles are the world’s most prolific mammals.