Last week, a coalition of irrigation districts in the Klamath Project requested state and federal assistance in addressing the anticipated grasshopper outbreak in the Klamath Project this year.
“In 2023, grasshoppers like we’ve never seen before hatched from the dry Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, and caused tremendous damage to growers crops throughout the region to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and counting,” the letter stated.
Klamath Drainage District, Klamath Irrigation District, Van Brimmer Ditch Company, and Tulelake Irrigation District all signed on to the letter, which was sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
“Grasshoppers are a real concern; everybody’s worried about them,” according to Mike McKoen, director of the Van Brimmer Ditch Company. “I am not confident that even with spraying, they won’t have a big impact on us.”
Spurred by warming temperatures, grasshoppers hatch from pods of eggs laid in the soil by the previous year’s adults. Once hatched, grasshopper nymphs make their way through an average of five stages of growth, becoming adults in about 35 to 55 days.
“Considering the immediate forecast, this request for assistance comes with urgency as we are anticipating a hatch very soon,” the joint letter stated.
Grasshoppers can consume massive amounts of vegetation. By comparison, 30 pounds of grasshoppers can eat the same amount of forage as a 600-pound heifer.
Written by Moss Driscoll, KWUA Director of Water Policy for Basin Ag News (April 2024)
Cover photo caption: “Grasshoppers are a real concern; everybody’s worried about them,” according to Mike McKoen, director of the Van Brimmer Ditch Company. “I am not confident that even with spraying, they won’t have a big impact on us.” 2023 File photo by Chelsea Shearer.
