OREM -- Though perhaps not as captivating as the current summer blockbuster "Terminator: Salvation" about an apocalyptic future where humans are fighting to avoid being obliterated by machines, the state is gearing up for a third-year campaign to eradicate the destructive Japanese beetle in Orem.

But unlike the robots in the movie, state and city have the upper hand on exterminating the beetles. By the end of last summer, state officials reported a 95 percent decrease in beetle populations over the previous year within the treatment area of Orem.

At the end of last summer, only 101 beetles were caught in traps, compared to 2,152 in 2007.

They expect nothing less this summer.

"We're hoping that it will be as successful as last year and the year before. ... We think we've brought the numbers down significantly," said Larry Lewis, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

Lewis said it may take a fourth and even fifth year of pesticide treatments to completely exterminate the beetle that has decimated turf, gardens and trees in other parts of the country.

"We won't feel it's over until we catch zero beetles during the trapping program," he said. "We're close."

Pesticide treatments will begin in a 30 percent smaller area of Orem the first week in June, which roughly includes residences, businesses and property within 800 West, 600 North, 375 West, and Center Street; two smaller areas within 1200 West, 675 North, 980 West and 510 North, and 700 West, 255 South, 400 West and 400 South.

Even more traps have been set within the treatment area, about 2,000 traps on a 250-foot grid system, said Clint Burfitt, an entomologist with state Agriculture and Food Department.

"That's as tight a grid system you can get," he said.

Outside the treatment area in Orem, the state is continuing to monitor a series of traps at a seven-per-square-mile ratio.

The state has contracted with a different professional pests solution contractor this year for treatments, Ecolife out of Sanpete County. A new non-toxic pesticide called Acelepryn is also being used this year that's safe for humans and animals, Burfitt said.

"It's basically an off-the-shelf pesticide, the same thing consumers can buy in the store," Lewis said.

The state and city held two open houses for this summer's program in April, have mailed out an eight-page bilingual 2009 eradication plan brochure to those in the treatment area, and will personally contact every resident and property owner 48 to 72 hours prior to the June pesticide applications, he said.

Burfitt iterated that it's important for residents within the treatment area to bag all green waste from now through the end of September to prevent female beetles and their eggs from being inadvertently moved outside the treatment area. The city is having its waste management contractor delivering the bagged green waste to a special section of the landfill.

Jeff Pedersen, Orem's assistant city manager, said the city has been pleased with residents' cooperation, the state's support, and the program's effectiveness thus far in eradicating the pest.

"We really can't say enough about it as a city that the state provided the program and funding to see it through to the end," he said. "It could have been a disaster without this support."

With every square foot of turf being sprayed within the treatment zone, Pedersen said he's talked to gardeners and fruit tree owners who have reaped even better harvests than in the past when their neighbors may not have used pesticides.

"They're really happy that they're coming," he said. "... Fears have been completely allayed, we've found."

Residents who live outside the treatment area and see a Japanese beetle are encouraged to collect it and call the Japanese beetle hotline at (801) 538-7123.