Mormon crickets march into northern Oregon town
Capital Press
The appearance of voracious Mormon crickets in the Arlington area of north central Oregon prompted a June 16 meeting of townspeople with state agriculture and Oregon State University Extension representatives.
Officials hasten to say the insects are neither Mormon nor crickets, but rather a grasshopper relative called the shield-backed katydid. The more common name dates to when the pests leveled the crops of Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake area of Utah in the 1800s.
By either name, they can overwhelm crops, fields and gardens. They don’t fly, but grow up to 3 inches long and crawl in mass formations that can be startling.
Area wheat farmer Walter Powell said he was driving near Arlington recently and “All of a sudden it was like the road was moving” there were so many bugs crossing.
He said they also affected play at the annual wheat growers tournament at China Creek Golf Course in Arlington. On the fifth green, Powell said, players had to clear insects from their putting lines. He said Mormon crickets will eat anything; during the golf tourney, he saw some eating companions that had been crushed by golf cart wheels. “They’re cannibals,” Powell said.
That’s true, said Helmuth Rogg,an entomologist and director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Plant Program Area. Rogg said the insect’s cannibalistic nature may explain its fabled marching behavior, in which hordes of Mormon crickets move en masse. Ones that falter or get injured are fair game for those coming along behind, “They move on so they don’t get eaten,” he said.
But Rogg said their presence in the area is not a new phenomenon and there’s no indication the population has increased. The insects thrive in the open sage country around Arlington, he said, and may have taken a wrong turn.
“It sounds like now Mormon crickets are marching into town,” he said. “It’s nothing to be concerned about.”
He said Mormon crickets can decimate wheat fields and pastures, however. A growth inhibitor insecticide such as Dimilin works on immature Mormon crickets, but the adults marching on Arlington are best countered with carbaryl, a poison bait marketed as Sevin Dust.
Rogg said Mormon crickets also are a problem in the Jordan Valley area along the Idaho border. Grasshoppers, meanwhile, are causing problems in the Steens Mountain area and in Malheur County, in Southeast Oregon.