Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management User Handbook

Gary L. Cuningham and Mike W. Sampson
Technical Coordinators

United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services
Technical Bulletin No. 1809
Issued Spring 1996 - Summer 2000
Washington, DC

During the last major outbreak of grasshoppers in the mid-1980's on Western United States' rangelands, Federal and State governments saw the need to develop new and better ways of grasshopper management. From that need, Congress created the Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management Project. (APHIS file photo.)

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Important Notes: See the Grasshopper Management Section for up-to-date information on using livestock grazing to prevent grasshopper outbreaks, new RAATs chemical control methods, environmental side-effects of grasshopper control, USDA-APHIS grasshopper control programs, grasshopper ecology, and practical grasshopper management guides. Pesticide registrations change frequently.  As of 2004, Acephate is no longer registered while Dimilin is registered by EPA for rangeland grasshopper control.

Introduction
Foreword, Acknowledgments, and Introduction 

Section I. Biological Control
Provides an overview of grasshopper biological control agents and discusses their potential as management tools.

Section II. Chemical Control
Identifies available chemical insecticides, application methods, and rationale for selecting certain insecticides for grasshopper control. Since this chapter was written, new methods have been developed that reduce pesticide application rates, costs, and environmental concerns while retaining effectiveness (RAATs brochure).

Section III. Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation
Examines the effects of grasshopper treatments on non-target organisms and the environment and includes monitoring techniques.

Section IV. Modeling and Population Dynamics
Provides an overview of modeling of grasshopper populations and grasshopper population dynamics.

Section V. Rangeland Management
Explains how various range management techniques can affect grasshopper populations and why grazing systems are a factor in grasshopper management. Also see Livestock Grazing and Grasshopper Outbreaks. 

Section VI. Decision Support Tools
Provides “hands-on” management and grasshopper identification tools and decision support software. Economic threshold and survey sampling procedures also are discussed. Also see “Decision Support Software for Rangeland Grasshopper Management.”

Section VII. Future Directions
Presents an overview of key trends in and components of grasshopper IPM that need further study and development.  

Appendixes
Appendix 1: Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management Project Cooperators 1987-94, and Authors Affiliations, Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers, Grasshopper Species Fact Sheets (Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912).

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