Alexandre Latchininsky (center) and Scott Schell (right) have taught an entomology
short course at UW for 13 years. Ken Black (left), an airman at Francis E. Warren
Air Force Base, is one of hundreds of professionals who have completed the three-day
course. The Eastern lubber grasshopper Schell holds is not native to Western rangelands.
(UW Photo)
A University of Wyoming Extension team that changed how grasshopper outbreaks are
treated around the world has received the 2018 Western Extension Directors Association
Award of Excellence for its efforts.
Before 2010, large-scale applications of broad-spectrum pesticide neurotoxins were
common. The UW Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management (IPM) team of entomologists
developed an approach in which lower-risk insect growth regulators are applied to
rangeland in alternating swaths. This method affects only immature insects (pest grasshopper
nymphs) and is benign to honey bees, butterflies and other valuable pollinators.
Since the late 1990s, the UW team has introduced the program in 10 states and 11 countries
through demonstrations, hands-on train-the-trainer workshops, and UW Extension and
academic publications. Now, it is the preferred option for grasshopper management
in the West.
In 2010, a major grasshopper outbreak was averted in Wyoming when reduced agent and
area treatments (RAATs) were applied to 6 million acres. The cost was $1.25 per acre
and resulted in $14 million savings for the state’s agriculturists.
The extension award recognizes Grasshopper IPM team leader Alexandre Latchininsky,
professor and UW Extension entomologist; and members Scott Schell, assistant extension
entomologist; John Connett, IPM specialist; Cindy Legg, Cooperative Agricultural Pest
Survey (CAPS) database manager; Douglas Smith, Wyoming CAPS coordinator; Lee Noel,
former graduate student; and team founder Jeffrey Lockwood, now professor of natural
sciences and humanities in the UW Department of Philosophy.
The Western Extension Directors Association Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding
extension education that addresses contemporary issues in one or more of the 13 Western
states and Pacific Island U.S. territories.
The 2018 award will be presented at the Western Region Joint Summer Meeting in Tamuning,
Guam, July 9-12.
For more information, call Latchininsky at (307) 766-2298 or email latchini@uwyo.edu.
