Fire Ants Are Ignoring Pros’ Eradication Efforts

Despite a $6-million budget and a small army of field technicians enlisted to fight them, the fire ants are winning--and heading north out of Orange County.

The ants have invaded five sites in the San Fernando Valley, according to Los Angeles County officials, including one discovered earlier this month at Brand Park in Mission Hills. That site was treated this week, said Robert Atkins, deputy agricultural commissioner.

The only reported stinging incident in the Valley so far was at the nearby San Fernando Mission Cemetery, where a woman suffered a minor injury while visiting a grave. That location is especially worrisome because it included “big multiple mounds” that indicate well-established colonies, Atkins said.

The other three Valley sites are all in Chatsworth, he said.

Officials with the Orange County Fire Ant Authority attribute the rise in reported outbreaks to warm weather, which draws the ants out, and more technicians in the field locating them. They warn the infestation is greater than suspected and urge more detection efforts in neighboring counties.

Imported fire ants were first discovered at a handful of sites in Orange County in November 1998; now there are 1,039 colonies. Los Angeles County is a distant second with 193. Riverside County has 79 sites, San Bernardino has 69 and San Diego County has fewer than 10 sites.

Red fire ants eat plants and can damage electrical equipment by gnawing on wires. Their painful sting can be fatal for the small portion of the population allergic to them. They have infested some Southern and Western states for decades.

John Kabashima, a UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor, said other counties need to do more detection work. “We’re hitting the tip of the iceberg here,” he said.

Los Angeles County communities with infestations include Whittier, Cerritos, La Mirada, Lakewood, La Puente, West Covina and Walnut.

“Our infestation is predominantly associated with the border we share with Orange County,” said Atkins. “So we’re very interested and have had some assurances from Orange County’s authority that they will tend to that border with a fairly high priority.

“We believe more money is needed to do searches,” Atkins said. His office so far has a $627,000 budget for the eradication effort. “We need to put a lot of money up front to fight this. It’s natural for the public and the media to see the high infestation figures and say we’re losing ground. But the infestations have been there for some time and are just now getting located.”

Orange County officials contend their $5.9-million program is working and that the new fire ant discoveries were expected.

That is partly because of the program’s public outreach, which includes having residents use potato chips as lawn bait for suspected fire ants. After an ant climbs on a chip, residents are asked to place it in a plastic bag and use dish soap or alcohol to kill the ant, then mail it to the county for confirmation.

The county has already spent $1.1 million on salaries, the purchase of 21 vehicles and office leases, including its headquarters in Lake Forest and a satellite office in Buena Park.

Richard Bowen, a former Marine lieutenant colonel, was hired as director in February to help design the county’s five-year battle plan against red fire ants.

“I didn’t come on board to say that eradication was totally impossible,” Bowen said.

The county has reported some successes, especially at O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon, which had 100 mounds a year ago, Bowen said.

“Now you can take your kid out there and have a peaceful picnic,” he said.

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, whose district includes a majority of the infestation area, said his office has fielded 3,000 calls from residents since the outbreak. He believes the large numbers mean the county’s program is working.

“The public education campaign is only beginning, and I said from the very beginning this is a five- to seven-year eradication program,” Spitzer said.

The authority has 18 workers and borrows field technicians from a local vector control district when they are available. Plans call for 10 more employees and continued help from six people through the Conservation Corps.

So far, Orange County has received the lion’s share of funding for eradication among Southern California counties because it has the largest infestation and is under a state-ordered quarantine on nursery products.

Many of the county’s 300 nursery operators complain that the imported fire ants are costing them as much as $3 million a year to drench each plant with pesticide before it can be sold.

“And that’s not only drenching but treatment of the soils,” said Gary Hayakawa, legislative chair of the California Assn. of Nurserymen. “Once the county was quarantined, it affected all nurseries, whether they have the imported red fire ants or not.”

In Riverside County, two agencies have been allotted more than $1.5 million to handle two types of ant infestations. The western half has fewer infestations than Riverside’s Coachella Valley, which has vast tracts of irrigated lawns.

“We’re seeing small yards with as many as 30 mounds and whole country clubs that are infested,” Conrad said.

Many people, he said, are unaware of the problem.

“I don’t think people really notice them on their lawns,” Conrad said. “I guess it’s too hot at this time of year to be walking around on their lawns.”

Kabashima, the UC environmental horticulture advisor, says Southern California residents need to be more concerned about the threat of the fire ants.

“My concern is there’s no way to activate citizens unless they get stung,” he said. “Once you get stung, you do not want to let this thing get a foothold. You become a believer in getting it eradicated.”

Times staff writers David Colker and Monte Morin contributed to this story.