Formosan Termites Terrorizing Louisiana

In New Orleans, it starts during the twilight hours in late April. Thousands of tiny, winged termites—alates—begin swarming lampposts.

In some areas, the air becomes so thick with the flying pests that streetlights dim behind hovering brown clouds. As the alates mate and drop their wings, the street crackles underfoot.

New Orleans, Louisiana, can reasonably be called the termite capital of the continental United States. It has been overrun by Coptotermes formosanus, the Formosan subterranean termite. Experts believe that the stowaway species entered the country on ships sailing back from the Pacific after World War II. Since their arrival, these termites have multiplied exponentially in the moist, warm, southern Louisiana climate. They've also established themselves in 10 other states and cost U.S. consumers $1 billion every year in control costs and damages.

In 1998, the Agricultural Research Service, with several major cooperators, launched a national campaign to reduce the population of these voracious invaders and lower their cost to society. Now, the researchers are taking stock of the progress they've made and focusing on new endeavors.No Quarter for Termites in the Vieux Carré.

New Orleans' historic French Quarter is the epicenter of the Formosan infestation—a worst-case scenario come to life. Many buildings in this part of the city contain wood that dates back a century or more. And the city itself gets about 60 inches of precipitation annually. With an abundant food supply and a ready source of moisture, Formosan colonies have been able to increase and expand here over the years.

Exacerbating the problem? Construction practices and a defensive, protect-the-structure approach to termite control made traditional chemical treatment difficult. So near-perfect conditions for termite colonies, combined with limited effective pesticides, contributed to rapid population growth in the late 1980s.

By the mid-1990s, the U.S. Congress saw that without some type of intervention to contain the Formosan scourge, many properties within the world-famous Vieux Carré would be reduced to the lacy grillwork they're so famous for. Now, 5 years after Operation Full Stop began, the situation doesn't seem nearly as dire. It looks as though Formosan populations can be managed. The program's coordinators stress one of the most critical lessons they have learned from their research: the importance of having an offensive, areawide management approach.

"Areawide management is key," says Alan Lax, leader of ARS' Formosan Subterranean Termite Research Unit at the Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) in New Orleans. "We've been able to reduce termite numbers in the French Quarter because we're treating entire blocks, not just individual homes or businesses."

Frank Guillot, ARS' Formosan termite program coordinator, concurs. "We've been keeping track of alate numbers inside and outside the treatment zone since 1998, the year we began the program. In 1998, about 70 percent as many alates were captured inside the treatment zone as were captured outside. By 2002, that number had been reduced to 42 percent." Visual inspection of easily accessible areas of structures in the French Quarter since the beginning of the program indicated no evidence of newly active termites or the damage they can cause. But advanced technologies—infrared, acoustic, and motion-detection devices—are now being used to search for termites or their damage in areas not readily accessible.

Dennis Ring, an entomologist with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) and principal investigator of the French Quarter program, explains that instead of applying repellent chemical barriers around buildings, participants are having baits or non-repellent liquid termiticides installed around their properties. They're "playing offense" against the termites instead of defense, and it's working.

Encouraged by the program's success, researchers expanded the original 15-block treatment zone in 2002. Ring says, "Public participation in the original area is nearly 100 percent. We've moved out one block in all directions, so now we're covering close to 30 blocks. We've already got 60 percent of the properties in the expanded area into the program, and people continue to join up."

Says Lax, "Before Operation Full Stop began, there was this pervasive myth that you shouldn't pay for commercial termite treatments because they don't work. In fact, only 15 to 20 percent of the properties in the French Quarter had undergone any type of termite prevention program.

"We've shown property owners that termite treatments can be effective under the right conditions. Our latest estimate is that even outside our treatment zones, where homeowners receive no help from the program, 40 percent of the properties have undergone some type of treatment."