BOISE — A warning for anyone who may plan on camping near the Sage Hen recreational area this Labor Day weekend.
The Boise National Forest is warning campers to not touch Douglas-fir tussock moth caterpillars because they may cause skin irritation.
Campers should also avoid coming into contact with the hair of the caterpillars because that, too, could cause people to break out into a rash.
Greg Betts and his family and friends camped at Sage Hen on August 17.
He told KTVB 13 of the 16 people he was with, experienced some type of allergic reaction. Four of them had to go to urgent care, Betts said.
Betts told KTVB, there was no warning of the insect outbreak on the Recreation.Gov website. He was only notified about them once he arrived at the campsite.
“I think one of the biggest things was just getting some information to us, we probably would've avoided the place all together if that was the case,” Betts said.
The Boise National Forest put up a sign at the campsite back in May, as well as alerted the public on their social media accounts, Mike Williamson, Boise National Forest spokesperson said, “While we believe the caterpillar population has gone down in that area, they are still there and if people have concerns about that, we understand if they want to go elsewhere.”
There are plenty of other places that aren't getting hit as hard as the Sage Hen area.
The last outbreak happened between 2005 and 2008.
“Historically we have an outbreak that goes pretty big, regionwide about every 10 years,” Laura Lowery, U.S. Forest Service entomologist said.