By Ezra Mann
With the progression of fire ant infestation last year, Garvin County joined a list of growing counties under a USDA plant quarantine.
Although no monetary compensation is available to people battling fire ants in Garvin County, plenty of information is available by phone and online, according to Jeanetta Cooper, agricultural services administrator with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. Garvin is one of 20 Oklahoma counties under quarantine. The quarantine is designed to prevent the spread of the ants through soil, plants with soil attached, grass sod, soil moving equipment and straw hay.
Penalties for non-compliance in the quarantine won’t be handed out for the first year or more, said Cooper. Time is being allowed to educate people. But, she said, once in effect, violations will become a federal matter.
People who comply with quarantine regulations will be given a USDA stamp to show regulations have been followed.
“We are surveying areas around infected counties and keep the data in order to see if more quarantines are needed,” said Cooper. “There is not a set equation for determining infestation, but once mounds are present for a period of time with consistent population, the decision can be made.”
L.D. Smith, who raises crops near Pauls Valley, said he appreciates the information on fire ants and that while he does not expect them this far north, he will keep an eye out for mounds. He expects people in flood plain areas to see the ants first and hopes that the ants natural predators from South America can be introduced in Garvin County.
Other farmers in the southernmost part of Garvin County have had mixed results when it comes to fire ants, including James Ricky, who said treatments aren’t always effective. He has encountered the ants already and hopes the recent freeze helps kill some of the ants.
“You’ve got this stuff that says it kills them and it does, but those left are able to survive and spread the problem further,” said Ricky. “I’ve had them in an electrical switch box and thick in one of my fields near Davis.”
Online quarantine information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fireants/index.shtml. Or people can call (405) 522-5971.
