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Wednesday, Sep. 16, 1998
Fire ants spreading slowly, state study shows
Only two new counties infested, West Texas survey finds
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
Scripps Howard Austin BureauAUSTIN - Fire ants invade about two-thirds of Texas but aren't spreading quickly to other parts of the state, a new agriculture study shows.
So far, 159 Texas counties - including all those in the Coastal Bend - are under a federal quarantine to keep the fire ants from spreading. Products such as hay, straw and rooted plants produced in those counties must be checked by agriculture officials, be stored in off-ground sites and be certified to indicate they are free from fire ants.
But a new study by the Texas Department of Agriculture that focused on West Texas counties shows that fire ant populations have only been found in two additional counties - Callahan and El Paso.
Those counties have not been quarantined, agriculture officials say.
``Fire ants do not appear to be moving into new areas as quickly as in the past,'' Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry said. ``This lack of movement may be the result of drought over the last few years with fire ants tending not to thrive during extended hot, dry periods.''
Fire ants cost Texans about $1 billion a year. The ants, each smaller than a match head, infest electrical equipment such as traffic boxes and air conditioners, causing electrical fires and equipment failure.
In addition, ants invade lawns, gardens and homes, leading to higher medical costs for Texans and their pets, reduced property values and structural damage.
Fire ants spreading at a slow pace is good news, researchers say.
``There are lots of variables about why you find fire ants in certain places and not in others, which will help us give advice on precision targeting of control methods,'' said Bob Coulson, an entomology professor at Texas A&M University.
For the study, the Texas Department of Agriculture worked with researchers at Texas Tech University, the University of Texas, UT-El Paso and Texas A&M to develop a uniform method to survey 47 West Texas counties near the leading edge of a fire ant quarantine zone.
This is the department's first multiagency survey, conducted as part of the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Plan.
``The good news is that of all the counties surveyed, new fire ant populations were found in only two counties,'' Perry said. ``One county, Callahan County, is located between two known infested and quarantined counties, Taylor and Eastland.
``In the other county, El Paso, isolated populations were found and have been treated under a spot eradication program. The fire ants found in Callahan County also will be treated.''
Data from this survey will be added to a new computer mapping system, the Fire Ant Spatial Information Management System. This information will eventually be available to researchers and the public on the Internet.
Fire ants initially infested the United States in 1918 through Mobile, Ala., where the species remained confined for nearly a decade.
By the late 1950s, imported fire ants made their way to Texas and have been spreading west ever since, officials say.
They now infest more than half of Texas' estimated 103 million acres of pasture land, records show.
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau reporter Anna M. Tinsley can be reached at (512) 478-9644 or by e-mail at tinsleya@scripps.comPost your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web