Duchesne County commissioners were asked last Monday for help with a grasshopper abatement plan for 2010.

Troy Cooper, the county's Utah State University Extension agent, told commissioners he expects to see another invasion of the ravenous insects again this year. He wants to get a head start on next year's 'hopper explosion.

“We're starting to get calls right now on quite a few numbers,” Cooper said. “Craig Mitchell just called and said Upalco was full of them again. Gene Ostler called and said he's got 'em again, too.

“With the late fall we had last year ... the state is even predicting that we will probably have a pretty heavy infestation this year,” Cooper added. “The way things look, it sounds like it's going to come true. Our concern is where do we go as a county?”

Grasshoppers are one of the most common invaders of agricultural crops and gardens. Unfortunately, they are also one of the most difficult pests to control. Populations vary naturally from season to season, and Cooper said 2009 is certain to be a problem year for producers in some areas of Duchesne County.

“I think if we keep the weather like we've had the last two days our window is probably at about a maximum of 20 days,” Cooper said, describing the time period for using insecticides to eliminate some of the grasshoppers.

“We're probably at 14 days before some areas need spraying,” he said. “Then we may be 14 days where some of the Myton, Roosevelt areas need sprayed. Yet, we may just be hatching, barely in Mountain Home.”

Grasshoppers breed and develop in dry, undisturbed sites, including pastures, empty lots or roadsides. As plants in these areas dry out, the insects begin looking for fresh, green food. To fully manage grasshopper populations, controls must be directed at the breeding sites, Cooper said.

As the grasshoppers hatch in these areas, they are easily controlled with almost any insecticide if spraying or baiting takes place prior to the time the 'hoppers develop wings. Often, infestation occurs from a single vacant lot and so controls should be aimed at these sites.

Cooper said as the wingless insects are detected, treatment is essential to prevent further problems.

“The product that we probably recommend is Dimilin,” Cooper said.

The insecticide is a growth inhibitor that has no affect on bees.

“The only thing they have to stay clear of is they have to have a 150-foot boundary around ponds because (Dimilin) is a casing inhibitor which limits molting.”

Other products such as Malathion can be used, but kills whatever it hits. The other option is Sevin, but Cooper said producers have to pull cattle off the treated land and implement a seven-day grazing restriction.

Currently the process of tracking and treating infested land is a complicated one. Cooper said individual property owners have done the leg work of getting plat maps and keeping track their costs for combating the grasshoppers. They have to provide the state with a bill to get a reimbursement.

“Last time the ranchers paid the bill and submitted it and got half back,” Farm Service Agency county committeeman Kelly Crozier told the commissioners.

Commissioners Kirk Wood and Ron Winterton said fellow Commissioner Kent Peatross would have more insight on the subject, but due to his absence at the meeting asked Crozier to do some research on the county's options.

“See what some other counties have done,” Wood said. “If Millard (County), for example has done it, get that information and come back.”

“The ranchers are going to rely on the experts on what to do and when to do it and what to do it with,” Crozier said. “The thing (the ranchers) are interested in is having a good spray and killing 'em ...

Everyone I've talked to they're interested in having the county get set up for grasshoppers much like they already are with mosquito abatement.”

Crozier said ranchers he's spoken with want taxpayers to fund county-wide spraying to combat the grasshopper problem.

“That sounds a whole lot better to them then running around and trying to do all this paperwork to get reimbursed,” he said.

“I know we want to be in line to get the state money to help pay the cost,” Crozier continued. “I think we're not just looking at this year. We're looking to have this on the books so when this county needs taken care of, it can be taken care of.”

Wood agreed that there is an advantage to taking an mosquito abatement-like system and applying it to grasshoppers.

“It's something we ought to be looking at as a county, 'cause it seems like it's going to be a reoccurring problem,” Cooper said. “We know that we've had infestations in the past, so we're probably going to have infestations in the future.”