Grasshopper Workshop Held In Malta at P.C.Library

There was no cloud cover or swarm of locust last Thursday, but there was plenty of interest in the workshop providing information on how to eradicate your world of grasshoppers. County Extension Agent Christina Murphy was well pleased with the turnout; she assisted with providing information to facilitate this article.

Phillips County is one of the areas in Montana that have been plagued by the grasshopper infestation. Although they seem to be great in numbers, the actual last "locust" in Montana was back in 1902.

Still, our country is overcome with the destroying pests – mostly due to the lack of good old hard winters like some of you remember. The frigid, artic-like, relentlessly cold winters are what is needed to kill the egg population. Recent winters are not severe enough.

At the workshop, farmers, ranchers, gardeners, homemakers and general public members filled the room to hear what options were available in an attempt to control the grasshopper plague we experienced the last couple years.

Murphy offered a pesticide safety presentation and grasshopper management workshop. She "stressed the importance of handling pesticides with the upmost caution," stating "it is always important to read the label to make sure that what you are spraying is on it."

Knowing not all users of pesticides take the necessary precautions, she shared "make sure your personal protective equipment (PPE) is correct and working properly."

She also mentioned having a copy of the label of the pesticide you are using in case of an emergency. The doctor will have an easier time treating you if they know what they are up against. Be sure to always wash your machinery, clothing, and hands after using pesticides.

"We don't want to take them home to our families or animals." Misuse of pesticides are dangerous and can be deadly.

Next, Gary Adams and the USDA – APHIS (Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service) crew gave an informative presentation on the management of grasshoppers and the upcoming year's forecast.

"Unfortunately, we are in for another year of these pests."

Erik Norderud spoke on the different life cycles and species of grasshoppers, suppression products used by the USDA and survey methods plus results.

To add to the beautiful things about Montana, he shared, "that there are over 400 known species of grasshoppers in the Western United States.

Unfortunately, only about two dozen of those species are considered pest species capable of economic damage."

Adams presented on the grasshopper spray program and what it would look like for local producers. He focused on the process of the program and what needed to be done.

If a person is interested in the program, they need to complete their letter(s) of Request & Questionnaire from all parties and get Cooperative Agreements signed.

Once the USDA-APHIS has these documents they will be able to move forward in getting bids for the project and potential funding to help offset the cost. If you were unable to make it to the presentation, copies of the documents handed out, as well as the request and questionnaire can be picked up at the Phillips County Extension office.

If you have any questions, please contact Gary Adams at (406)657-6282 or email him at [email protected].

Jeffrey Lockwood, wrote in the High Country News, in 2003, about his studies:

"In 1986, I was hired as an insect ecologist at the University of Wyoming to explore the world of grasshoppers - a mission I've undertaken for the past 17 years. No sane person would devote so much time to pursuing a subject that did not touch the heart and soul while stimulating the mind. And I've found that grasshoppers hold mysteries and lessons that are worthy of this labor of love."

He further stated, "Soon after arriving at the university, I learned that the accepted explanation for the locust's demise was a vague conspiracy of vast ecological changes. Entomologists proposed that the disappearance of bison, the decline of fires set by Indians, and changes in climate had altered the locust's prairie habitats. But when I started digging through the evidence, none of these factors provided a satisfactory explanation."

"Finally, after four years of fruitless searching, following up on a tip from colleagues at Western Wyoming Community College, we found the mother lode. High on Knife Point Glacier in the Wind River Mountains, with Gannett Peak looming in the distance, a frozen graveyard was emerging through the ice. The tiny bodies had been crushed, but they were intact. There was no doubt that these were the corpses of Melanoplus spretus. We'd found the locust.

They eventually recovered 130 largely intact remains, and each was catalogued, dried for preservation, and individually stored for future study.

"Based on subsequent radiocarbon dating and analysis of the glacier, we surmised that in the early 1600s - around the time that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth - a swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts was blown into the mountains, probably from the river valleys 100 miles to the northwest that are now part of Yellowstone National Park.

Lockwood wrote, "Scattered across the glacier in a seething carpet of brown-green bodies, some of the locusts may have escaped and continued their journey, but millions were probably immobilized by the cold. In the course of summer melting, rivulets washed them into the crevasses that split the top of the ice field. With time, they were frozen deep in the glacier and slowly transported down the side of the mountain."

While that is a brief explanation of the locust and their history, the stories and journals can now be written and detailed with the grasshopper plague that parallels the locust. A step in time, on the same path, we are about to face the grasshoppers again this year.