Wissahickon Trails To Host Moth Event This Saturday

WHITEMARSH, PA — Yes, there is such a thing as National Moth Week, and it is about to get underway across the globe.

To celebrate the worldwide event, an area watershed organization is inviting outdoor lovers to a nature program this coming weekend.

The event, titled “Moths: Denizens of the Dark,” will take place this Saturday July 17 at 9 a.m. at the headquarters of Wissahickon Trails, the Four Mills Nature Reserve at 12 Morris Road in Ambler.

The preserve sits just over the Whitemarsh Township line in neighboring Ambler.

Wissahickon Trails is a land steward organization that works to protect land and waterways within the Wissahickon Valley in eastern Montgomery County. It is the suburban counterpart to the Friends of the Wissahickon organization that works in the Wissahickon Watershed in neighboring Philadelphia.

The group says it oversees 64 square miles of land that drains into the Wissahickon Creek in the watershed.

The night prior to the program, Wissahickon Trails workers will monitor a moth light station and then will show off a variety of moths to attendees at Saturday’s event, according to information found about the event on the group’s website.

Participants will also learn about a moth’s lifecycle, how to identify moths, and how to welcome them into your own backyard and front yard gardens.

Those in attendance will also learn how to create their own moth light stations at their own homes.

Those interested in attending Saturday’s event are asked to pre-register. They are also encouraged to bring folding chairs as seating in the courtyard will be limited.

National Moth Week began in 2012 by a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization called Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission, according to a website about the program's formation.

The idea for the moth week was born out of some popular local moth night celebrations, and what first began as a plan for a statewide moth night ended up evolving into first a national celebration, and later an international project, according to information on the group's site.

Mothing events were held in 49 states and 31 countries back during the year of the group’s inception, and since that time, events have been registered annually in all 50 states and in more than 80 countries on every continent but Antarctica, the website states.