The county’s Weed and Pest District is planning a grasshopper program for this coming season with experts anticipating an insect onslaught in some parts of Wyoming. District Supervisor Steve Brill said he anticipates the need to spray about 40 to 60 thousand acres in the county, though that number could change in either direction as hatching draws nearer.

Goshen County Weed and Pest Supervisor Steve Brill and the district’s board members aren’t sure what kind of grasshopper infestation looms for the area, but they’re preparing for a substantial program nonetheless.

“It’s one of those (situation’s) like walking into a dark room and looking for a light switch,” he said of predicting the infestation at Wednesday afternoon’s regularly scheduled county commissioners meeting.

Moving forward, Brill said he and his staff are currently planning to hold a public meeting March 31 to inform landowners about this season’s planned grasshopper control program.

Though some experts are predicting a massive grasshopper breakout in Wyoming this summer, Brill said he still doesn’t anticipate the problem to be as bad in Goshen County as it was in 2003.

Similar to that year’s program, however, Brill said this go-around will consist of Reduced Agent-Area Treatment (RAAT), an approach which sprays areas in intermittent swaths rather than the entire area.

Based on historical data, Brill said he anticipates the spraying of between 40 to 60 thousand acres in Goshen County this season.

The district in 2003 sprayed about 120,000 acres, and landowners paying $1 per protected acre with the district fitting the rest of the total $1.35-per-acre bill.

This time, Brill said he anticipates a cost-share ratio of landowners still paying $1 per protected acre, but weed and pest contributing 50 cents per acre.

While Brill isn’t expecting the county to be under grasshopper siege as heavily as other Wyoming counties, he said funding a program similar to the 2003 one would take the pulling of some strings.

“We don’t have the money, so it’s going to be really tough for us to do this, but I think we can pull it off,” he said, pointing out the district’s current efforts to secure funding through the state’s Emergency Insect Management grant program.



For the complete article see the 02-05-2010 issue.

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