Mike Stark - The Associated Press | Posted: Friday, August 7, 2009 12:15 am
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah agriculture officials think they're close to eradicating a horde of voracious Japanese beetles that showed up in a neighborhood near downtown Orem a few years ago.
In 2007, there were about 2,000 beetles in the urban neighborhood. This summer, only four have been found.
Officials attribute the decline to an aggressive spraying program enacted shortly after the nonnative beetles with distinctive metallic-green bodies were discovered in 2006.
State officials worried the half-inch beetles might spread quickly in Utah -- harming farms and suburban landscapes -- if they weren't thoroughly treated, said Larry Lewis, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.
"We jumped on it hard from the beginning," Lewis said.
A native of Japan -- where natural enemies kept populations in check -- the beetles were first found in New Jersey in 1916. Since then, it has swept through much of the eastern U.S.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls the Japanese beetle "the most widespread turf-grass pest" in the country.
It's unclear how it got to Utah, though state officials suspect a few may have arrived with potted plants imported from other states.
A network of 1,900 traps spread throughout the neighborhood will be used to monitor the beetles' activity. Lewis said more spraying likely won't be needed this year.