First Montana, Now North Dakota Invaded With This Pest
This summer has brought its share of ups and downs from the weather to lack of rain to an abundance of rain, not that we are complaining, to excessive heat to record low temperatures. But this one is not about the weather.
Those ARE NOT STORM CLOUDS on the Western Horizon. Those my friends are much worse... Grasshoppers and Locusts.
In the 701, we are not strangers to all sorts of challenges thrown our way.
But why so bad this year? As we know, drought plagued much of the plains and the United States for that matter last year. This spring was looking to be tough as well but timely rains kept the droughts at bay. We can't say as much for our neighbors to the west. Lack of rain has caused massive swarms of grasshoppers and locusts to move across Big Sky Country and on into the Dakotas.
Friends of ours in the western part of the state, farmers and ranchers, have reported massive infestations of grasshoppers in crops and pasture lands. And here closer to the BisMan Area, we are seeing the pests in droves in our own back yards too!
History tells us of the 1930s when grasshoppers literally ate the bark off of trees. "The grasshopper plague." We are not anywhere near that level of devastation but one can't help to wonder just how much the swarms of pests can do locally.
The good news is that it seems like these swarms are going to be short-lived. Hopefully, the crop harvests are not going to be affected by them. And the best way to get rid of them you may ask? Well, the inevitable will happen when the cooler temperatures start to decent in the region. Funny how just living in the 701 everything just seems to take care of itself.