Green Swarm

With names like "Whitewhiskered", "Threebanded", "Redshanked" and "Spottedwinged" you'd think the grasshoppers soon to devestate millions of acres of land came right out of a "Wind In the Willow" book, but they're very real and very destructive, eating nearly half their body weight in foliage in a day. Western ranchers and farmers are gearing up for grasshopper infestations this year of biblical proportions. Last year grasshoppers did millions of dollars in damage to crops, grasses and other plant life in their path, and their numbers are expected to increase this year. Disturbingly, the USDA spent their entire grasshopper budget this past fall in counting the insects, leaving them without the funds to now spray federally owned grasslands against grasshopper invasion. Farmers and ranchers are preparing for the impending "green swarm" the best they can, and are gearing up to spray lands they feel will be the most vulnerable. They are also praying that Mother Nature steps in and takes pity on them, sending a cold spell in late May or early June, a natural form of insecticide that would very likely rid the countryside of the majority of grasshopper nymphs.