Grasshoppers and Mormon Crickets play an important role in the high desert ecosystem and serve as an important food source for birds and wildlife. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) routinely sprays pesticides over huge swaths of public and private rangeland in Idaho and other states in an attempt to manage the insects. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity have sued the US Department of Agriculture for violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act alleging the spraying “harms not just grasshoppers but also numerous non-target insect species critical to ecosystem functioning and productivity. This, in turn, has repercussions for birds, mammals, and plants that rely on these insects for food or pollination.”

Sharon Selvaggio, Pesticide Program Specialist, with the XERCES Society will explain the long-running program and the legal action now underway.

Join us on Zoom at 6:00 on December 12 for this free presentation. Please register here.