Crickets :Farmers Brace For Invasion
BY JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Environmentalists are jumping into the war on Mormon crickets -- against some federal officials who want to exterminate the insects.
The Utah Environmental Congress announced Monday it will go to court to stop the Uinta National Forest from trying to kill crickets by spreading pesticide-laced grain in forests near farms.
While farmers insist the practice is safe, environmentalists fear the cricket controls will harm threatened bald eagles and other sensitive wildlife species, such as sage grouse and wild turkey.
"We are shocked that the Forest Service would agree to spread toxic chemicals across the landscape without a full-blown environmental analysis of the potential impacts to water quality, wildlife and public safety," said UEC's Craig Axford.
The group, which bills itself as a coalition of individuals, groups and businesses interested in protecting Utah forests, noted that the U.S. Wildlife Service also had expressed concern about the practice, which is aimed at averting what is expected to be the worst cricket crisis in 60 years.
"When most of the comments received on an issue raise troubling questions about a proposed action, the Forest Service has a duty to adequately respond to those concerns," said Axford.
The Utah Farm Bureau, however, supports the cricket poisoning.
"This cricket problem is an extremely serious one," said Booth Wallentine, chief executive officer of Utah's largest farm and ranch organization.
He said a cricket will chomp through all the vegetation in its path.
Based on egg and hatchling counts, Utah can expect an infestation of biblical proportions along with crop damage that could reach tens of millions of dollars. Crickets are expected on 1.25 million acres in Utah this summer, according to the state agriculture department.
Poisoned wheat germ has been used safely for more than two decades, said Wallentine. The Forest Service plans to lay it like a battle line in the path of ravenous crickets about one-half mile to one mile away from private crops.
"It has an absolutely perfect record," he said.
Federal wildlife officials evidently have some of the same reservations as the environmentalists. They detailed the environmental risks of the plan in a letter to Spanish Fork District Ranger William Ott, who announced a cricket-control program April 1.
The safety of pesticide carbaryl, used for the cricket killing, is based on analyses done 14 years ago and now being revisited by federal authorities, the agency said. Besides, the Forest Service may have been wrong to sidestep an environmental review of the plans, the wildlife officials said.
If the controls do go forward, the Forest Service should be mindful of harm it could pose to fish, mollusks and birds, the Fish and Wildlife Service said in its March 23 letter.
