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Grasshopper and Mormon cricket Suppression Program for Southern Idaho
Author
Not Available
Publisher
United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine Idaho State Office
Publication Year
2011
Body

The proposed action is to suppress grasshopper and Mormon cricket outbreaks on federally managed rangeland in Idaho.  Populations of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets occur in some areas nearly every year in Idaho. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regularly evaluates the population levels and locations of outbreak infestations.  This evaluation helps to determine if site-specific action is necessary to suppress outbreaks, to protect rangeland ecosystems, or to counter the potential for grasshoppers and Mormon crickets to spread across rangelands or into surrounding crops and communities. APHIS is proposing a program to suppress outbreak populations, and is consulting with land management agencies and others in the design and implementation of the program.  Specifically, APHIS is consulting with Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (FS) and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA). This Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes potential environmental consequences of the proposed action and its alternatives.  This EA applies to a proposed suppression program that would take place from April 1, 2011 through August 31, 2011 in Idaho.  Populations of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets that trigger the need for a suppression program are considered on a case-by-case basis.  There is no specific grasshopper or Mormon cricket population level that triggers APHIS participation.  The density of eight grasshoppers per square yard, or three Mormon crickets per square yard, is used as the minimum population for which a suppression program may be considered.  However, in many cases populations of much greater than eight grasshoppers per square yard, or three Mormon crickets per square yard, may not justify a suppression program.  In response to requests from land owners/managers, APHIS would determine if an outbreak has reached an economically or environmentally critical level.  If so determined, an appropriate treatment plan would be developed, taking into account additional site specific information.Participation in a grasshopper suppression program would be based on potential destruction of crops adjacent to rangeland.  Participation would also be based on benefits of treatments,including protection of crops adjacent to rangelands.  Some populations may not cause substantial damage to native rangeland yet may require suppression to prevent damage to high economic value crops on adjacent private land.  The goal of the proposed suppression program analyzed in this EA would be to reduce grasshopper outbreak population levels in order to protect private cropland adjacent to rangeland.(source purpose and need statement)

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Other
Collection
Keywords
Southern Idaho
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