The Fruit Fly That Quarantined California | Retro Report

In the summer of 1981, the Mediterranean fruit fly, or medfly, spread through California’s Santa Clara Valley, infesting backyard fruit trees and threatening the state’s $14 billion agricultural industry. It would take more than conventional tools to defeat this bug. A massive ground eradication program failed to stop the medfly, and a plan to spray pesticides sparked angry protests. Today, California continues to fight the medfly, but the tactics have changed, and so have the politics.

This lesson may be useful for Unit 5 in AP Environmental Science when discussing pest control and Integrated Pest Management. Also can be used in an environmental science class when discussing pest control.

This lesson could also work in a unit on invasive species in a Geography, Economics, Current Events class.