War is declared on cricket army

They're katydids. But you know them as the infamous Mormon crickets. And they're back, especially in Box Elder County.

About 100,000 acres in the county's Grouse Creek, Park Valley and Youst areas are slated for spraying next week in order to control an infestation. Some of the land to be sprayed is privately owned by farmers and ranchers.

"They can go through and remove half of a crop in a couple days," said Larry Lewis, public information officer for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. "They can do quite a bit of damage economically to a farmer out there."

Box Elder County is ranked third in the state for total agricultural production, amounting to $201 million in 2005. Alfalfa, wheat, oats and barley are some of the major crops grown there. About half of the areas to be sprayed are private range area and crop land.

Private landowners will pay for about 5 percent of the cost for the $1 million statewide treatment and monitoring program that targets Mormon crickets and grasshoppers. Federal and state funds will cover a bulk of the bill.

Next week, crop-duster pilots will spray in areas north of the Great Salt Lake with Dimlin, a growth inhibitor that eventually kills crickets and grasshoppers. In recent years, grasshoppers have also been pests to homeowners and a source of economic anguish to farmers in certain parts of Utah.

In Box Elder County, the Mormon crickets are already an inch long and on the move into rangeland, where they compete for food with livestock. The county is also ranked first in the state for cattle production and second for sheep production.

It's believed the crickets migrate from as far away as Idaho and possibly Nevada. Repeat spraying is needed because "it's hard to get 'em all," Lewis said.

The spray program is designed to start when the crickets have grown to a treatable size. Some late colder weather this past spring contributed to slightly lower numbers of crickets than expected.

A 2006 state report concluded that grasshopper and Mormon cricket outbreaks can "significantly impair" Utah's $343 million forage-crop industry.

Although grasshopper infestation overall in Utah's 29 counties has gone down in recent years, there has been a 64 percent increase statewide from 2005 to 2006 in acreage infested by Mormon crickets. Of the state's 1.1 million acres invaded by Mormon crickets in 2006, Box Elder County accounted for over 966,000 acres, nearly double the county's 2005 infestation.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com