Quiet Nevada town overrun by thousands of Mormon crickets hatching early

ELKO, Nevada — If you hear the sound of popcorn as you drive through northern Nevada, it may be due to thousands of Mormon crickets hatching early this year.

Elko, Nevada is a quiet town which is why the sound of thousands of Mormon crickets being crushed by tires seems so loud.

"It's like the popcorn noise underneath your tires, then the smell is extremely bad, it smells like dealfish," said Tyeona Damon who lives near Elko. "They're impacting my race car driving because it's so slick, so to have crickets ruining it is really awkward."

Damon says the crickets have made Elko their home. They've started infesting parking lots, porches, and plants.

"The little bit of vegetation we can have here out in Elko... they're going to eat it all," said Damon.

Mormon crickets, which are scientifically shield-backed katydids, do severe damage to crops and forage. According to Nevada Department of Agriculture Entomologist Jeff Knight, the recent rise in numbers coincides with their last resurgence back in 2007.

"This go around started about 2019, we expect populations to be high for four to six years then they'll drop back down again," said Knight. "We won't see them the populations just south of Elko are fairly high."

Although crawling is their only mode of transportation, they can move faster than one might think.

"They move up to a mile a day so crickets will come in an area be there for two or three days then move on," Knight said.

The Department of Agriculture is working to get rid of them on public lands. In a Commissioner board meeting today, board members got advice from Knight about what the city and community members can do to mitigate them.

"You can treat with chemicals we recommend using a bait rather than just spraying for them, the baits are much safer for other non-target species including pets," Knight said. "We also recommend people if they don't want to use pesticides, they can build a cricket fence."

The Nevada Department of Agriculture also has an online cricket reporting form if populations in your area are overwhelming.