A few weeks ago, I was driving between the towns of Fairview and Mountain Home and saw a temporary, light-up sign that said: “Caution: Slick Roads.” I wasn’t near any water, but the cause was evident: Mormon crickets were on the road in such large numbers that their carcasses were actually making the road slick.
Mormon crickets live on a cycle of several years, so in recent history, they only came out in big numbers every few years. However, their populations are growing.
Our neighbors to the south, especially in Nevada, have endured millions of Mormon crickets in the past few weeks. Outbreaks are bolstered by drought, and can have devastating impacts on residences, desert ecosystems, and farmland (which is how they got their name).
The precipitation we’ve received this year has provided ample food supply for the crickets, which aren’t actually crickets, but a species of katydid. Usually, by July, Mormon cricket swarms are mostly wrapped up.
A specialist at the Idaho Department of Agriculture told the Idaho Statesman that the long winter pushed back the usual schedule of insecticide use against Mormon crickets. That’s why, even this weekend, you could find the insects crossing roads in southwest Idaho.
