Backyard Climate Scientists

Growing up with the joy of long summer nights and fireflies has to be one of the best childhood experiences. Playing tag with neighborhood kids amid the magical light show is more than a visual memory, it’s a feeling too.  Understanding and appreciating fireflies and their role in the web of life is also a science.   

Six Ways to Help Fireflies in Your Yard

From Lancaster Online article, June 27, 2025 by Erin Negley

Fireflies need moisture, food, shelter and darkness to thrive. Here are a few things to do in your yard to help fireflies, from Kristy Gallo, an ambassador with the nonprofit environmental organization The Xerces Society,

Give them water. A pond, bird bath or water feature provides the moisture fireflies and their prey need.

Leave the leaves. Some firefly larvae live in leaf litter. Leave leaves where they fall or move them aside.

Change your mowing. Fireflies stay close to the ground during the day. To avoid disturbing them, mow higher (3.5-4 inches), less frequently or don't mow an entire lawn at once. Aside from turf grass, tall native grasses can provide shelter. 

Don’t use pesticides. Insect-killing chemicals also kill fireflies. If you worry about snails, slugs and caterpillars, remember that fireflies eat insects like these.

Turn off the lights. Fireflies use their own lights to communicate and find a mate. Too much artificial light changes their behavior. Turn off outdoor lights, at least in June and July. Or use motion detectors.

Learn more about fireflies. Join a community science project, such as Firefly Watch or Firefly Atlas. For more reading, Gallo suggests “Fireflies, Glow-worms and Lightning Bugs by Lynn Frierson Faust and “Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies” by Sara Lewis.

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From the Lancaster Online article, Where Have All the Fireflies Gone, by Ad Crable, May 11, 2024; 

According to what they call the most comprehensive research yet studying factors that influence firefly populations, a group of mostly Penn State researchers finds there are a handful of primary threats — increasingly climate change among them — that must be overcome if we are to continue to be delighted by jewels of the night.

Also working against fireflies are loss of habitat, pesticides spread on crops and in yards, artificial lights that disrupt the mating process, and the loss of open soil to driveways, homes, parking lots and other impervious surfaces needed by fireflies who spend up to the first two years of their lives hibernating and hunting in the ground as larva. Only then do they become the short-lived adult lightning bugs that blink their way to each other and mate.

Fortunately, the article does go on to say you can help fireflies too!

— Keep soil in parts of your yard open and moist. Decomposing leaves make great habitat. Consider leaving a portion of the yard unmowed.

— Plant a diversity of habitats such as trees, shrubs and plants to provide cover and shade.

— Do not use pesticides on your lawn or landscaping.

— Turn off outdoors lights during prime firefly mating season in June and July or use dimming lights.

To read the entire article Lancaster OnLine Article Link  AD CRABLE | Outdoors Columnist  May 11, 2024