Coachella Valley, a popular resort and retirement community just east of Riverside and San Bernardino, Calif., has been battling intense fire ant infestations ever since the ants were introduced to the area in 1998.
Red imported fire ants (RIFA) became problem to horticultural and recreational industries within a year of their arrival. Through a unique control program that includes collaborating with resorts on irrigation issues, and changing its choice of insecticide, the Valley has achieved dramatic success in a short period of time, reports DuPont Professional products.
Jim Saulnier has seen infestations at their worst as operations manager for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District.
“In one acre, I’ve seen as many as 100 mounds with some of the larger mounds containing up to a half a million ants,” he says.
After a state-run RIFA control program was instituted but then terminated due to lack of funding, fire ants again became heavily established in all areas where they had been reduced or eliminated and expanded into areas in the east Valley. In 2005, the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District launched its own RIFA control program with the encouragement of local cities. The district is now responsible for treating a variety of settings including residential communities, country clubs, schools and parks.
Saulnier knew that in order for the district to achieve success, it needed to come up with a creative collaboration with the resort communities.
“There is a huge irrigation issue here, since everyone wants lush green grass even though the Valley’s natural environment can reach 115 degrees with 5 percent humidity,” Saulnier says. “The constant watering creates an artificial microclimate within the clubs, increasing the humidity to 80 percent at ground level, and that’s why the fire ants are thriving.”
There are almost 150 country clubs in Coachella Valley and most irrigate at least 12 to 15 times a day for at least 10 minutes at a time during hot weather, which occurs 8 months a year.
“The country clubs were responsible for treating their own grounds, but their watering practices made it impossible for them to gain any RIFA control,” Saulnier says. “The district was only treating around the perimeter of the golf courses, which meant that infestation of treated areas was inevitable. We knew we needed to come up with a better approach of working together in order to make any real progress.”
In an agreement with the country clubs, the district now provides permanent RIFA treatment for the clubs’ grounds. The country club pays for the cost of control products in the initial treatment of the golf course to make them a stakeholder to keep the water off for 36 hours during and after the first treatment. In a typical treatment cycle, a club turns its water off at 6 a.m., the district makes its treatment and the club turns the water back on by midnight the following day.
The district has expanded its use of insecticide products for the control program.
“We looked at programs in other states throughout the country that were attempting to control heavy fire ant infestations and making progress,” Saulnier says. “We noticed that areas in Florida were using several control products that we weren’t using, and we wanted to see what those products would do for us.”
“Using several new products, which include DuPont Advion fire ant bait, we have seen improved control in our integrated pest management (IPM) program,” Saulnier says. “Advion fire ant bait exhibits a rapid knockdown typically within 72 hours. And it’s very, very attractive to the RIFA, and is quickly picked up.”
The active ingredient in Advion fire ant bait is Indoxacarb, which is classified as a reduced-risk by the EPA. This qualification has proven to be an important attribute to the district and its constituencies.
“We use control products in all our programs that have a low toxicity that are Category 3 and 4,” Saulnier says. “People ask us all of the time if the products we use are low in toxicity. Our technicians carry the pesticide labels and Material Safety Data Sheets of all the control products we apply with them to show how great the profile is.”