(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Editor's Notes by Christina Myer)

If you are of a certain age, the sights and sounds of your childhood summers were quite different from what we experience now.

Remember sitting on the porch swing watching lightning bugs in the yard? (Fireflies, if you’re feeling sophisticated.) Maybe an adult would run and get a jar with holes punched into the lid with a pocket knife, so you could collect a few and make a temporary blinking lantern — always with the strict instruction to “let ’em go ‘fore too long.”

Or maybe the sudden realization that you were surrounded by lightning bugs in a place where street lights didn’t make the rules had you running toward that front porch claiming it wasn’t dark yet.

According to a report by West Virginia Explorer, the Mountain State remains one of the best states in the country for having such an evening as summer really gets under way. But that may not last much longer.

“Habitat loss, climate change, artificial light pollution, pesticide use and intensive landscaping practices are believed to have contributed to the decline” of fireflies in much of the country, according to the report.

What a shame.

Here, conditions are still favorable, but the danger lurks. However, natural heritage vegetation ecologist Krista Noe of the state Division of Natural Resources told West Virginia Explorer local firefly populations can recover quickly when habitat conditions improve.

Yes, she’s a vegetation ecologist, but according to the report, Noe is a firefly expert, too.

So, what can we do to help?

According to the report, conservationists have a list, which bears some similarities to the effort to support pollinators, too.

Artificial light at night is a big problem, so reducing it on your own property and supporting efforts to reduce it in your communities is important. If you’re feeling lazy about the yardwork, you can say you are supporting the fireflies by leaving leaf litter in place rather than removing it and allowing portions of your property to grow naturally. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides. And maintain damp areas and native vegetation.

In case you’re wondering, yes, there are places in West Virginia taking advantage of our firefly population to lure nature tourists. Some of them are the same as our International Dark Sky Parks, where visitors can also see a nighttime sky that is simply invisible in much of the rest of the country. Those are Watoga State Park, Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park and Calvin Price State Forest, in Pocahontas County. Calhoun County Park also holds dark sky events and is working toward obtaining the designation.

By the way, one of the reasons I love my job is finding out things like: West Virginia has a natural heritage vegetation ecologist; and there is a rare firefly called the Blue Ghost, which has a continuous blue-white glow rather than the blinky yellow-green many of us are used to. That one can be found in Watoga. Time is running out to spot it out in the woods, however. It’s gone after mid-June.

Much as we are talking about incredible sights that demand a lack of artificial light, I do need to say this: If you’re not on home turf, bring a flashlight with you. Especially in unfamiliar territory, it is unsettling how quickly it can get frighteningly dark in the woods on a cloudy or moonless night. Learn a lesson from one of my coworkers, who took longer than he expected on a hike and did NOT have a flashlight with him. His phone battery was also dying. And that’s how he discovered the light-emitting diodes on his smart watch gave off JUST enough light to get him back to his car. (He may have already told that story in his own column at some point. I can’t remember.)

Bottom line is, get out there and enjoy these treasures we still have in West Virginia. And do your part to be sure the next generation can, too.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com.