BAKER CITY, Ore. — The grasshoppers are gone but the seeds of another scourge lie still and quiet, bothered neither by blizzard nor sub-zero temperatures.

Infestations of the crop-munching bugs have been significant in parts of Northeast Oregon the past three years, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Farmers and ranchers in Baker and southern Union counties said this summer that hopper numbers were higher than they had seen in several decades.

“They are horrid — the worst I’ve seen,” John Wirth, a cattle rancher in the Medical Springs area, near the border of Baker and Union counties northeast of Baker City, said in July 2023.

Although adult grasshoppers can’t survive cold weather, their eggs are considerably more hardy, said Todd Adams, who works in the insect pest prevention and management department in the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The eggs hatch in spring, and depending on the weather, infestations can become worse in subsequent years, Adams said.

“There’s a huge amount of concern for what we are going to see next year,” said Whitney Rohner, manager of the Baker County Soil and Water Conservation Districts. “Unless conditions are perfect in the spring for a die-off, it could be just as big a problem as in 2023.”

That concern prompted a meeting in Baker City on Nov. 15 at which Adams, as well as OSU Extension Service agents Will Price and Darrin Walenta, gave presentations.

Adams said there is no effective way to deal with grasshopper eggs. Treatment with pesticides is most effective if it’s done as soon as possible after the hoppers hatch, before they mature into adults that can fly.

Once they can fly, Adams noted, the hoppers can flee areas sprayed with pesticides.

Ideally, this spring will be cool and wet, he said — conditions that can significantly pare the number of eggs that hatch, and can also kill hoppers before they mature.

Price said he has talked with Baker County farmers and ranchers who reported reduced hay yields and less forage for their cattle on rangelands due to the grasshoppers’ voracious appetites.

“If it’s green and above ground, they’ll eat it,” Price said.

Hoppers can also reduce yields from grass seed crops, he said.

Adams said there is no state or federal cost-share program or other type of financial aid now to help landowners with the cost of hiring a contractor to spray pesticide.

Farmers in Baker County said the cost for spraying last summer was $20 to $25 per acre.

Adams said Department of Agriculture officials can potentially lobby the Oregon Legislature for financial assistance during the session that starts Feb. 5.

But to make a compelling case to lawmakers, Adams said the agency needs detailed reports from landowners about their losses due to grasshoppers in 2023.

“We need hard data from people in the field, the more the better,” Adams said.

He encourages landowners to fill out the online form at oregon.gov/oda/programs/IPPM/SurveyTreatment/Pages/GrasshoppersCrickets.aspx.

Rohner said the form is easy to complete, and the data it provides “essential” to the campaign to gain state dollars for grasshopper treatment in 2024.

Infestations date to 2020

According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the 2020 infestation was the worst in the state since the 1980s and early 1990s.

But 2021 was worse.

That summer, surveys of several thousand sites across Eastern Oregon showed grasshopper concentrations exceeded the “economic density” level of eight hoppers per square yard on 66% of the surveyed sites.

That was up from 60% in 2020 and a significant increase from 26% in 2019.

When grasshoppers or Mormon crickets — actually a type of katydid — exceed the economic density, the insects can reduce the value of crops or grazing land, according to the agriculture department.

In 2021 the average, at sites that exceeded the economic density, was 65 hoppers per square yard.

State officials estimated that 10.1 million acres were infested across 18 counties, including Baker, Grant, Union, Wallowa, Umatilla and Morrow. The largest infestations were in Harney and Malheur counties.

The situation improved somewhat in 2022, with an estimated 5.3 million acres infested, including parts of the six counties listed above. The percentage of surveyed sites with economic densities of hoppers dropped to 42%.

For 2023, an estimated 7.7 million acres were infested, with grasshopper populations exceeding the economic damage threshold on almost 2.3 million acres — 29%.

On infested acres, however, the average grasshopper concentration was 63 per square yard, only slightly below the 2021 average of 65.

Larry Lutcher, an Oregon State University Extension agent in Morrow County, said Mormon crickets have been an issue there as the insects have moved into Morrow County from Gilliam County to the west.

“I am taking a ‘defensive posture’ so we can quickly react to the problem if and when necessary,” Lutcher said. “The Morrow County commissioners have been supportive of this proactive stance, and they have provided funding for the purchase of products that can be used for control. They seem to be open to the possibility of additional funding for control efforts if an emergency develops. I am grateful for their cooperation, and I am sure our local farmers feel the same way.”

Morrow County Commissioner Jeff Wenholz said a previous group of commissioners allocated $100,000 to combat Mormon crickets if the insects moved into the county.

Annual survey

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s annual grasshopper and Mormon cricket survey showed that grasshopper populations in 2023 exceeded levels that are considered to cause economic damage on hundreds of thousands of acres in Eastern Oregon. That threshold is eight grasshoppers per square yard.

The figures, by county, for 2023:

Baker

• economic damage, 331,113 acres

• below economic damage level, 89,435 acres

Grant

• economic damage, 116,626 acres

• below economic damage level, 128,356 acres

Morrow

• economic damage, 61,404 acres

• below economic damage level, 115,948 acres

Umatilla

• economic damage, 178,717 acres

• below economic damage level, 218,161 acres

Union

• economic damage, 62,271 acres

• below economic damage level, 80,139 acres

Wallowa

• economic damage, 173,279 acres

• below economic damage, 83,840 acres