Grasshoppers gaining ground in western MT

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By The Associated Press

Story Published: Aug 5, 2009 at 10:47 AM MST

Story Updated: Aug 5, 2009 at 1:51 PM MST

MISSOULA - A grasshopper infestation is destroying crops and slickening some roads in western Montana.

Helen Atthowe, a horticulturist with the Missoula County Extension Office, says: "We have another four to six weeks of grasshopper hell" before frost kills them off.

Mike Chenoweth, coordinator of Sanders County Weed Control, says that in some parts of the county, roads are slick with grasshoppers.

In Lake County, grasshoppers are eating hay, grass and cereal grain crops. Extension agent Jack Stivers says he knows of some farmers who will only have about a third of their hay crop because of the grasshoppers.

Atthowe says the infestation is making the birds happy. She says she's seen baby robins that can't fly because they've gorged themselves on the pests.

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