Sept. 13, 1999
COLLEGE STATION — The red imported fire ant is digging deep into the wallets of Texans. Damage and management of the imported pest in the five major urban areas of Texas cost more than $580 million in 1998, according to a Texas Fire Ant Management Plan study recently released. Households in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio were stung the worst: total annual expenses to that sector were $526 million. Golf courses shelled out $29 million for control; schools, $25 million; and city (for landscapes, roadways, athletic fields and swimming complexes), $600,000. The annual costs of control and management of fire ants were distributed by city as follows: Austin, $61 million; Dallas, $121.5 million; Fort Worth, $74.9 million; Houston, $121.9 million; and San Antonio, $202 million. The costs by expenditure items were as follows:
• Fire ant control and treatment, $301.5 million;
• Repairs, $80.6 million;
• Cost of equipment replacement, $152 million; and
• Medical treatment, $47.2 million.
The study was conducted by the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, through the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Texas Agricultural Extension Service as part of the Texas Fire Ant Management Plan. The Texas Department of Agriculture and Texas Tech University also assisted with the study.
"Fire ants are a major burden to Texans in both rural and urban areas,"
said Dr. Chester P. Fehlis, deputy director of the Extension Service and
associate vice chancellor for agriculture for The Texas A&M University
System. "We have been battling these pests for a number of years with little
success, but through the Texas Fire Ant Management Plan, a concerted effort
is under way statewide to deal with fire ants more effectively. We probably
will never eradicate fire ants in Texas, but we can use better management
techniques to reduce the widespread damage from these pests," he said.
The plan was first funded during the Texas Legislature in 1997. This year,
the state legislature again funded the project for two more years and passed
a resolution declaring Sept. 12-18 as Fire Ant Awareness Week, to "encourage
residents of the Lone Star State to educate themselves on the dangers of
fire ants and the preventive measures available to combat this insect menace."
Red imported fire ants, a native of South America, first arrived in the
United States in Mobile, Ala., on ships in the 1930s. The pest quickly
spread, reaching Texas in the 1950s, and now infest more than 80 million
acres, mainly in the eastern two-thirds of the state. The annual cost data
in the survey does not include some multiple family housing and businesses
or costs borne by electrical utility companies, communications firms and
cable companies.
( Note: No one seems too interested that we can safely and effectively solve the fire ant
problem.)