‘We need birds:’ Grasshoppers invade parts of Springville
Jun 12, 2024, 5:40 PM | Updated: 6:42 pm
SPRINGVILLE — People living on Spring Mountain Drive are experiencing a grasshopper infestation.
On Wednesday, Kris Lindsay said it’s not uncommon to see insects in his neighborhood, but he’s never seen this many.
“The next-door neighbor was complaining about how she takes her dogs out, and she can feel the crickets squish in between her sandals and her feet as she’s walking along,” Lindsay said.
Springville resident Kris Lindsay watching the horde of grasshoppers crawling on his fence. (Shelby Lofton, KSL TV)
He said they appeared when the temperature warmed up.
“When it hit 80, 90, they just appeared out of seemingly nowhere,” he said.
In less than one week, he said the grasshoppers had destroyed his garden, overtaken his yard, climbed onto his fences, and sat on the side of his house.
One of Lindsay’s kids holding a grasshopper. (Shelby Lofton, KSL TV)
“They ate all of my cucumbers,” Lindsay said. “They have whittled down all of my onions, and my raspberry bush is gone as well … This does have an impact.”
The pests have destroyed some of his neighbor’s plants, too.
“You see all the dead spots where it’s starting to thin out from the grasshoppers,” said Kyle Hall, who lives on the same street. “We set up a garden just a couple of days ago and just got overrun immediately.”
Lindsay and Hall have tried online remedies, such as mixing apple cider vinegar with dish soap, oil, and water to kill the insects. They’ve also sprayed their yard with other branded products, but nothing has worked.
“I mowed the lawn two days ago and every step there were hundreds,” Lindsay said.
The two Springville residents believe the grasshoppers came from the mountains behind their houses.
“We had grasshoppers last year and I think this is their offspring, I think is finally hatched,” Hall said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of predators in the area, so they’re just kind of uncontested.”
“If I have to wait it out, that means that we probably won’t have any harvest this year,” Lindsay added.
The grasshoppers crawling on Lindsay’s home and fence. (Shelby Lofton, KSL TV)
Lindsay and Hall said they reached out to the city for help.
A spokesperson for Springville said they don’t have the resources or knowledge to handle the infestation. The spokesperson indicated other parts of the city are dealing with the same issue.
In an email provided to KSL-TV by the Springville city administrator explained to impacted homeowners that city leaders reached out to the county since they handle public health issues like mosquito abatement.
“They indicated to our chief that they are not responding to this situation because spraying is ineffective,” the city administrator wrote.
The city’s public information officer said it’s likely these grasshoppers are coming from federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. They’re hopeful those offices can help.
Hall and Lindsay said they’re concerned about how long the grasshoppers might stick around.
“We need birds. We need lots of them,” Lindsay said.
