GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's a technique that has confused some who frequent Richmond Park.
Dozens of duct-taped trees can be seen from the parking lot, prompting neighbors like Sherry Klaasen to think it was either a joke, or something a little more serious.
"I thought maybe somebody was playing a prank, or they were gonna cut all the trees, like they were gonna cut them or make the park bigger or something," said Klaasen. "I was just concerned about it."
Turns out, it's a common technique to keep spongy moth caterpillars out of the tree's canopy. A quick look at any of the duct-taped trees in Richmond Park, and you'll find dozens of them crawling up the bark, trying to make their way to their food source: leaves.
"The stickiness will stop them, and it deters them from walking up the tree," said parks superintendent Joe Sulak. "And then you can walk up to them and dispose of the caterpillars in the morning, early in the day, you just put them in some soapy water."
Sulak said volunteers earlier in the week stopped by the park and taped up the trees, hoping to keep the invasive species from doing anymore harm.
"The Caterpillars eat on leaf material, and so if they're high enough in population, they can actually defoliate the tree, and then the tree has to use energy to re-foliate," said Sulak. "After that defoliation happens, and if it happens for multiple years in a row, the trees could actually die by running out of energy."
At the end of the year, Sulak said they'll come up with a treatment plan to help control the population for next summer.
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