Ranchers and homeowners may be on their own when it comes to battling the huge population of grasshoppers and crickets expected to hatch this season because federal money to get rid of the pests is gone.
Representatives of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food joined the Tooele County Extension Office Friday to inspect areas in Tooele and near Vernon."They're there," said Larry Lewis, agriculture department spokesman. "We dug up some grasshopper egg sacs at one location near Tooele and went to a place near Vernon near the Juab-Tooele county line where there are hatched Mormon crickets."
The excursion substantiated a survey done in fall 1998 that reported a big increase in the number of acres expected to be infested by Mormon crickets and grasshoppers.
The survey showed that nearly 832,000 acres are expected to be infested -- and the author of the report said it is possible there could be more.
Cary Peterson, commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Food, is forming a Decision and Action Committee comprised of many agencies that represent land interests, including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Utah Department of Natural Resources, the Utah Farm Bureau, Utah State University, cities, counties and private landowners.
One of the committee's jobs will be to see if there is any funding available to combat the pests.
Typically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture handles insect infestation onpublic lands, while states and counties work with private landowners. However, a special fund, USDA-APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service), no longer has money for grasshopper and cricket elimination.
Lewis said it would take about $1 million to contain the problem in five Western states.
"One message is: 'Because of this, homeowners and farmers, you may be on your own to battle the crickets and grasshoppers, unless someone wants to write to a congressman,' " Lewis said. "One million now to be used at the appropriate time will save the government tens of millions in crop damage down the road this year."
Both insects eat plants and grains. Grasshoppers tend to stay closer to inhabited areas and munch on people's flowers, shrubbery and gardens. Crickets tend to prefer grains and agricultural products.
However, both can cause substantial damage to all kinds of plant life and can wreak havoc, both aesthetically and financially, on fields, yards and gardens.