2021 featured the emergence of Brood X, The Great Eastern Brood of periodical cicadas. This is a momentous occasion in the entomology world and periodical cicadas always generate interest from the public and from professionals in the Kentucky Green Industry. To help county extension agents prepare for the deluge of questions that would come on this topic, I led two KERS train the trainer sessions with Blake Newton on the most commonly asked questions regarding cicadas. At the end of the two sessions the approximately 60 participants received a digital information packet that contained two new infographic fact sheets, 6 pre-made social media posts, a PowerPoint they could use for Zoom-based training, a narrated version of the PowerPoint to help them teach on cicadas, a cicada bingo card, instructions for cicada dissections, and a guide to using cicadas for youth outreach.

We also helped to promote Cicada Safari, a citizen science app that helped to track the emergence of periodical cicadas across the country. The true number of counties in Kentucky that have Brood X cicadas in them, seemed to be something of a mystery going in to 2021. Historically, much of the state was considered a site for this brood but after the last emergence in 2004, only 16 counties had reported seeing cicadas. Through cicada safari and our social media efforts (viewed approximately 45,000 times over two months) to publicize and collect data we were able to acquire on ground photos and confirmation of several more counties (notably Franklin, Fayette, and Madison) that should anticipate Brood X in the future. This will help county Extension professionals in those area prepare and will give warning to Green Industry and orchard professionals in those counties to protect trees.

Finally, cicadas captivate the public's attention and there were many media inquiries on this topic. I was the lead extension person for our department on this topic which resulted in 13 media interactions locally and nationally. There were an additional 3 podcast interviews on cicadas and one of these interviews led to me being a guest on “Wild Fed” a hunting and foraging themed television program from the Outdoor Channel.