Update: The hearing on the development of this property is May 14 at 7 p.m. but researchers can write testimony now and send it to Wallingford Planning and Zoning Commission, Wallingford Town Hall, 45 S. Main St., Wallingford, CT 06492.
Megatibicen auletes, the largest cicada in North America:
Anytime we remove trees, we reduce cicada habitat. Remove a small forest of trees and we might destroy the habitat for an entire species. North American cicada species need trees to survive and live out their life cycles, and certain cicada species require specific types of trees and specific environmental conditions. This is the case for Megatibicen auletes, also known as the Northern Dusk Singing Cicada, which prefers oak trees growing in sandy soil.
Megatibicen auletes habitat is in peril in Wallingford, Connecticut, where a rare sandplain is about to be excavated and turned into space for a warehouse. Read this article: Environmental concerns prompt questions of state oversight in Wallingford. After reading the article, it seems like there is still a chance to reverse plans to develop this area. I hope it does not happen, for the sake of the cicadas.
Megatibicen auletes is the largest cicada in North America. You can hear its remarkable call right after sunset in late summer months. I wonder how many residents of the Wallingford area knew that the largest cicada in North America lived in their community. I wonder how many people have heard the auletes’ scream right after sunset and wondered what creature made that sound. Hopefully, people will have another chance to hear them this summer, rather than the sounds of machines grinding up a forest, or the silence of yet another warehouse parking lot.
We cannot stand by and allow any company, any power, any person to destroy the habitat of any species of plant of animal and allow such animals and plants to forever disappear. We are the wardens of this planet. We have be given the responsibility through GOD to preserve, protect, and maintain all life on this planet so that we can all live in balance and harmony. Allnex of Wallingford wants to destroy a 25 ac. sandplain to build storage building and in so doing, destroy the habitat of many insects, plants, etc. particularly, the cicada. I cannot stand by and let this happen. Neither can anyone else in Wallingford, in Connecticut, anywhere in this country to allow Allnex or any other company to do this. We will fight it.