Montana Code 80-7-503. Duties of department
80-7-503. Duties of department. The department may:
Terms Used In Montana Code 80-7-503
- Alternative control program: means a system of controlling insect pest populations through biological or other means not involving toxic chemicals. See Montana Code 80-7-501
- Cropland: means land used for the production of food and forage, including the headlands, ditches, and rights-of-way adjacent to such land. See Montana Code 80-7-501
- Infestation: means that a pest exists in such numbers, under certain conditions, and at certain times as to destroy or substantially damage or threaten to destroy livestock or other agricultural crops. See Montana Code 80-7-501
- Insect pest: includes the grasshopper, cutworm, pale western cutworm, armyworm, chinch bug, and any other insect or arthropod generally recognized as a destroyer of grain, hay, range, and horticulture crops. See Montana Code 80-7-501
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(1)develop and publish a list of pesticides approved for control of insect pests;
(2)develop and publish technical guidelines on techniques of controlling insect pests;
(3)notify a county of its survey results and state whether the infestation is normal or serious;
(4)review and comment on or review and approve all county agricultural insect pest management plans as provided by local government statutes and consider whether the plan conforms to the technical guidelines of the department and whether implementation of the plan will probably counteract the condition of insect pest infestation in a timely and proper manner;
(5)consider whether an alternative control program would be as efficient as spraying on a ratio of total costs to total benefits and provide the county with a summary of its findings prior to conducting or approving any cropland spraying program. If the alternative control program is considered adequate, the department may conduct or approve such a program.