By Michael Todd
In the fifth year of Utah”s drought, reservoir levels are down and humans are not the only ones feeling the uncertainty of a parched future.
Insects and animals are impacted by the dry conditions too, causing some to flourish while others struggle.
Mormon crickets are doing well in Utah. The Utah Department of Agriculture estimates at least 5 million acres will be infested with Mormon crickets this year, double last year”s population of crickets and over 200 times the population in 1997.
According to the Utah Bureau of Land Management, Mormon crickets, at a density of one per square yard, will eat about 38 pounds of dry plants per acre. However, during an outbreak, their population can reach 100 Mormon crickets per square yard, and their consumption levels can reach 3,800 pounds of dry plant per acre.
While the Mormon Crickets are feeding on wheat and other dry crops, things that feed on Mormon crickets are feasting too.
“I can tell you one thing, our turkey populations and sage grouse are doing really well and have been for the last few years since the Mormon crickets moved in,” said Craig Clyde, a wildlife biologist with the Utah Wildlife Resources.
Clyde said an animal”s food source partly controls that animal”s population level, and when Mormon crickets do well so do the creatures feeding on them.
“The prey control the predator not the predator controls the prey,” Clyde said. “Some people don”t understand that.”
However, not all creatures respond well to the drought.
“In a good year, we have 74 percent fawns per doe, and this year it is about 49 to 54 percent,” Clyde said.
He said offspring numbers are down because the animals stress out. As water resources dwindle, it becomes necessary for more animals to drink and feed in a smaller area. This leads to overcrowding, and overcrowding leads to stress, which causes lower numbers of offspring.
Another spokesman for Utah Wildlife Resources said even larger animals like the wild mustang are stressing and therefore have higher numbers of stillborns and foal mortalities.
The drought also increases the number of encounters between humans and wild animals as animals leave their normal habitat to search for food, Clyde said.
“If we don”t get food mass for bear, like grasses and berries, they have a hard time, and we have more bear problems,” Clyde said. “Last year, we had three or four incidences all season. This year, we have had six already.”
Land animals aren”t the only ones feeling the pinch; aquatic creatures are getting crowded too. Randy Raidon with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said as the water levels decrease, the fish too become stressed and have fewer offspring.
