No refunds: Tent caterpillars overrunning Alberta campgrounds

People using campsites in Alberta this weekend may have some unexpected visitors. Some campgrounds have been taken over by tent caterpillars.

It’s the second year in a row that creepy crawlers have moved into Alberta campgrounds, which in turn are not offering refunds for sites amid infestations.

Although tent caterpillars are harmless, the critters are everywhere. One family at Pigeon Lake Provincial Park is trying to take it in stride – literally, because Megan Bodker has gotten caterpillars stuck in her hair during a hike.

Bodker, her husband and two young children pulled up to their campsite last night.

“There were thousands of them. All over the ground, all over signs, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if we’re camping this weekend,’” she told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

But the kids have become mini experts on the bugs, which are teeming by the thousands, chewing away at the leaves of the provincial park.

“They’re in heaven … (The caterpillars) were here last year, but not this many.”

Tent caterpillars are not new to many Alberta Parks campsites. On Thursday, the group issued a notice saying because they were a naturally occurring and an intermittent phenomenon, campgrounds weren’t able to provide advance notice of the conditions and would not provide a refund.

“It is what it is. You’re camping in nature. This is their home, right?” Bodker said.

Entomologist Ken Fry says the outbreaks happen in cycles roughly every 10 years. While they may seem destructive, tent caterpillars are a normal part of nature.

“When you get a little bit of thinning, that’s good for a forest. It helps keep it vibrant and rich,” he said of the bugs eating up tree leaves.

In urban areas, however, trees may not survive defoliation, so homeowners may want to fight back by plucking caterpillars off or calling pest control.

Parks Canada says the caterpillars should turn into moths by July. Infestations, however, can last three to six years.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg