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Grasshopper Survey
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Article Content
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The 2012 Oregon grasshopper survey season revealed that the grasshopper population is still a significant concern in many areas for the state, though perhaps declining from the infestation levels of 2011. Surveying began on 4 June and ended on 4 September. The 2012 report is now available for viewing and downloading.
Report Summary
Full report (pdf, 1.6 MB)
Maps
While it appears the economically infested acreage (8 or more grasshoppers per square yard) in OR may be declining, it is dangerous to conclude the outbreak of the last few years is waning. Budget limitations forced us to reduce our sampling efforts by ~2/3 during 2012. To do that we had to reduce scouting personnel to ~2.5 / week and the total number of sites surveyed to ~1/3 of 2011. Thus we estimate survey for only ~3.5 million acres in 2012 compared with 7.4 million in 2011. Economically infested acreage in 2012 was 33.7 % of the total acreage surveyed. This is down only slightly from the 38.9 % of 2011.
ODA and APHIS had only one suppression program this season at the Klamath Marsh, Klamath County. Due to logistics and various complications it took over three weeks to actually begin treatments. During this time the grasshopper populations increased in age, density and geographic spread. In the end 7,497 acres were treated by private landowners and ~ 590 on the Refuge were treated by APHIS.
Though there may have been declines in some local grasshopper populations, economic densities were still found widely across eastern Oregon during 2012. Thus, we encourage landowners in areas with high or building populations in 2012 to be especially proactive in early 2013 if they are concerned about grasshopper impacts to crops and rangeland. Control is most effective on young grasshoppers. If conditions cause the crash of this outbreak we can consider ourselves fortunate, however, planning for a continuation of the patterns of the past few years is the only prudent course of action.
Site Specific Environmental Assessments for 2012 and the previous three years are available on ODA's website.
For further information or resources please contact Paul Blom at pblom@oda.state.or.us
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