Driving down a windy canyon road in northern Oregon rangeland, Jordan Maley and April Aamodt are on the lookout for Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops.
Maley, an Oregon State University Extension Agent, and Aamodt, a resident of the small Columbia River town of Arlington, are both involved in Mormon cricket outreach and surveying efforts in the area.
In 2021 alone, Oregon agricultural officials estimate 10 million acres of rangeland in 18 counties were damaged by grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. ODA recommended she treat her 988-acre ranch in Arock in southeastern Oregon. As the program’s protocol calls for applying insecticide to only half the proposed area, alternately targeting swaths then skipping the next one, this means nearly 500 acres of her land will actually be sprayed.“It was horrible,” Fillmore said. “Grasshoppers just totally wiped out some of our fields.” She was forced to spend $45,000 on hay she normally wouldn’t have to buy.
APHIS National Policy Director William Wesela said the agency sprayed 807,000 acres of rangeland across seven Western states in 2021. So far this year, it has received requests for treatment in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada and Arizona, according to Jake Bodart, its State Plant Health Director for Oregon.
But environmental groups oppose the program. Last month, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity sued APHIS in the U.S. District Court in Portland. In their filing, they accuse APHIS of harming rangeland ecosystems and not adequately informing the public about treatment areas.
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‘Biblical' Cricket Swarms Taking Ravaging Crops in OregonDriving down a windy canyon road in northern Oregon rangeland, Jordan Maley and April Aamodt are on the lookout for Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops.
Leer más »
'Biblical' insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pestsFarmers in Oregon already battling extreme drought are also fighting against infestations of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops. Outbreaks across the U.S. West have worsened amid drought and warmer temperatures.
Leer más »
'Biblical' insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pestsFarmers in Oregon already battling extreme drought and low water supplies are fighting against future grasshopper and Mormon cricket infestations.
Leer más »
‘Biblical' Cricket Swarms Taking Ravaging Crops in OregonDriving down a windy canyon road in northern Oregon rangeland, Jordan Maley and April Aamodt are on the lookout for Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops.
Leer más »
'Biblical' insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pestsFarmers in Oregon already battling extreme drought are also fighting against infestations of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops. Outbreaks across the U.S. West have worsened amid drought and warmer temperatures.
Leer más »
'Biblical' insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pestsFarmers in Oregon already battling extreme drought and low water supplies are fighting against future grasshopper and Mormon cricket infestations.
Leer más »