Louisiana Under Federal Fire Ant Quarantine

Today is the first official day of summer.  The Summer Solstice.  The Longest Day of the Year.  But with summer in Louisiana comes hot temps.  Really hot temps.  And with the hot temperatures comes mowing, grilling, and fire ants.

And fire ants cause more harm and damage than just painful stings.  For some reason they are extremely attracted to electricity.  When we built our house in North Bossier years ago, we were outside city limits, so we had to have a well.  And one soon discovers that fire ants love to find their way into electrical boxes and circuits and cause electrical shorts, or even fires.  Hence, another reason for the Federal Fire Ant Quarantine.

Get our free mobile app

And before we even get started, here’s something that you probably didn’t know.  Fire ants aren’t even native to our area.  They are actually native to South America.  Their introduction to the United States is traced to the port of Mobile, Alabama, around the 1930s, where they likely hitchhiked on cargo ships carrying soil or agricultural goods from South America.

From Mobile, fire ants spread rapidly across the southeastern U.S., including Louisiana, via:

• Natural dispersal: Winged reproductive ants (alates) fly during mating season, establishing new colonies up to a mile away.
• Human-assisted spread: Movement of infested materials like soil, nursery stock, or farming equipment. Louisiana’s warm, humid climate and fertile soils provided ideal conditions for their proliferation.
• Flooding: Fire ants form floating rafts during floods, a behavior that helped them spread through Louisiana’s bayous and wetlands.

By the 1950s, fire ants were well-established in Louisiana, impacting agriculture, ecosystems, and public health due to their aggressive stinging behavior. Efforts to control them, like widespread pesticide campaigns, have had limited success.   Hence, why we’re currently under a Federal Fire Ant Quarantine today.

What is a Federal Fire Ant Quarantine?

Does that mean we have to lock them up?  If only we could.  According to Newsbreak, a quarantine simply means they have to stay put and stop from spreading.  This means materials that could potentially contain fire ants are prohibited from being moved until they have been inspected and verified to be free of fire ants.

Items Included in a Federal Fire Ant Quarantine Include:

• Soil
• Plants with soil or root balls.
• Construction equipment
• Earth-moving equipment
• Hay and straw
• Mulch and sod

So, if you plan on traveling outside of the Federal Fire Ant Quarantine Zone with any of the items listed above, make sure none of them have fire ants hiding anywhere in or on them.