Grasshoppers devour what drought didn't By Kelly Kennedy Special to The Denver Post Sunday, July 07, 2002 - - Thousands of grasshoppers mowed down Jeff and Terri George's alfalfa crop last week. Now they're heading for the hayfield, and the Georges wonder whether they'll have any feed left for their prized performance paint horses. "The horse-feeding situation is scary, and the grasshoppers aren't helping," Terri George said. In some areas of Routt and Moffat counties, more than 20 grasshoppers can crowd into each square yard - or 1 million per acre. The bugs are generating a panic across much of Colorado, which already is hurting for horse and cattle feed because of severe drought and wildfires. Making matters worse is that grasshoppers are just about impossible to fight once they become adults. They have such voracious appetites that crops have been lost in less than a week of munching. Grasshoppers spread over 10 acres, at seven per square yard, can eat the same amount as one cow. "Four weeks ago, there were thousands of baby grasshoppers on my road," Terri George said. "It looked as if our road was moving." Driving west of Steamboat Springs on U.S. 40, the grasshoppers announce themselves with the crack of exoskeleton against windshield. They grind beneath the tires and sound like a popcorn popper full of kernels. Last fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture compiled a list of potential grasshopper hot spots. Moffat, Routt, Weld and Yuma counties are on the list. Much of Wyoming and parts of Nebraska also are suffering. "We had no clue," Terri George said. "We had no reason to even look. And we're not getting any help. I keep asking, and there's no assistance available." Experts say the grasshopper infestation has taken years to develop and likely coincides with Colorado's years-long drought. Increases in the grasshopper population typically follow abnormally warm and dry periods, said Frank Peairs, an entomologist with Colorado State University. Grasshoppers - Colorado's troublesome bug is the Scudder - will search for and find the best vegetation for their consumption. "Grasshoppers lay their eggs in uncultivated areas," Peairs said. "They're happy to stay where they are if there's food." If there's no food, they head for crops, then people's lawns. And the spring drought meant more grasshopper eggs hatched than is typical. Late freezes and fungal diseases helped by wet springs usually cut down the number of grasshoppers. Moffat County pest management supervisor Bruce Johnson said his county has gotten help from the Department of Agriculture, such as surplus pesticide, but the infestation has killed his budget, which usually goes toward mosquitoes. "We've spent over $12,000 on equipment and $8,000 on bait," he said. "Plus we have two people working overtime treating the grasshoppers." The county also has a Mormon cricket infestation near Dinosaur. "I've never seen it this bad," Johnson said. "The grasshoppers have taken over (300,000) to 400,000 acres in Moffat County, and that's just in the crop areas." Moffat County has a pest district, which allows ranchers to pitch in together to fight bugs. "Routt County needs to get a pest district," Johnson said. "I'll help them set one up for next year." In the meantime, everyone is doing what they can to save as much of their crops as possible. "We usually cut the hay in August," Terri George said. "This year, we'll do it sooner, and that means less hay." She points to a scraggly stalk in her front yard as her 5-year-old son, Colton, races after grasshoppers with a butterfly net. "That was my rhubarb," she said. "I had really nice rhubarb this year. Our ranch is going to get eaten. This has never happened before." Grasshoppers fill Colton's new swimming pool, they leap from shelves inside the house, they rise up in clouds as Terri George leads her horses out to the pasture. Up County Road 179 near Milner, Luanna Iacovetto is fighting grasshoppers at Saddleback Ranch. "We do a cattle drive for guests," she said. "We could have a grasshopper roundup. We make jokes about it because we don't know what else to do. We're probably going to run out of feed for our cattle." Grasshoppers cover every free spot. "We got on it last year with the spray, but with over 7,000 acres, it's hard to spray it all," she said. "They say even if you spray and your neighbor doesn't, it doesn't do you any good." They're infesting Twentymile Road, a section of County Road 44, and 15 miles north of Hayden near Cog Road in Routt County. They're also hitting crops just south of Craig. 'Hoppers in the air Now the grasshoppers are flying - which means they are adults. "You can kill them now, but we call it revenge killing," said entomologist Scott Shell of the University of Wyoming. "You could do some spot treatments, but if they're flying, they're adults, and they've already laid their eggs. Even if you kill the majority, there will still be enough to take out the crops." Shell said ranchers should pool their money to hire a pilot to spray for next year's grasshopper population. Shell assisted Wyoming entomologist Jeff Lockwood in creating a spraying program. "Kaycee, Wyo., had grasshoppers terrible last year," Shell said. "But they got together this year and paid a pilot to spray every other swath and are relying on grasshopper movement to take it to untreated areas. It seems to be working. This year, people in Steamboat Springs might be better off spending their money on hay." Lockwood, a professor at the University of Wyoming, said this year may not be the end of it. "If next spring's weather conditions are similar to this year's, it could be much worse," he said. For now, locals buy Nolo Bait, a biological insecticide produced in Bayfield, by the 10-pound bag. "We have just been bombarded with phone calls," said Michelle Townsend, owner of Elk River Farm and Feed. "We've had over a dozen calls today, and we've been getting them like that for a couple of weeks. In some areas off Elk River Road, it looks like someone hit the fields with a lawn mower." Kaylee Myers manages Harvey Ranch, a cow-and-calf ranch. "They haven't hit us yet, but they've surrounded us on all sides," she said. "We're not going to treat them - we're just going to wait and see. We're getting a lot of calls from people asking us what to do." At Windemere Landscape and Garden Center, sales representative Nancy Wilson is also getting calls. Bait popular option She explained that Nolo Bait is a popular option because it claims not to affect livestock, children, birds or pets. It comes in a bran form that attracts the baby grasshoppers. The bait contains a spore that infects the grasshoppers, then eats away their insides. Since adult grasshoppers are cannibalistic, it infects them when they eat the baby grasshoppers. And, if the adult grasshoppers lay eggs, the eggs will also be infected, so there may be fewer hoppers next year. "We've sold four cases in two weeks," Wilson said. "That's unheard of for us. We're calling it the plague. One lady said her lawn was there in the morning and gone that night. People started coming in from in-town today, so they're starting to notice." The crunch of critters under her car tires is also moving closer to town, and she's seen some grasshoppers in the nursery, which is also within city limits. As the crops are eaten, entomologist Peairs said the grasshoppers will head for lawns and gardens. Katie Davis lives in Hayden, just minutes from Steamboat Springs. "One night, I was going west on Highway 40 from Steamboat Springs toward Hayden," she said. "They just plastered the windshield. It was so bad we had to stop and clean it before we could keep going. We're worried they'll come get our gardens." Pest Management Supervisor Johnson said he sees many long days ahead of him. "I've had three days off in 45 days," he said. "When it snows, I'll rest - so pray for snow." Correspondent Brent Boyer contributed to this report.