by Paul Ryan

On first smell, a newcomer to Houston County this time of year may think the area is filled with rotting fish. But the smell found in areas well-lit at night isn't from fish, it's from mayflies.

Starting the end of June and lasting a few weeks into July is mayfly hatching season, and on Sunday and Monday, La Crescent was filled with them.

"It was about four inches deep out there," said Tim Moore, owner of Kwik Trip. "This happens six to eight times a year."

Mayflies hatch from the Mississippi River, and usually only live for about a day. They often swarm to gas stations and other places that are lit at night. The insects' short lifespan makes the ordeal easier to handle, but as Moore says, mayflies don't crawl or move around much, which makes it hard to tell whether they're dead yet.

"You pretty much have to wait until they're dead," said Moore. "Otherwise they come right back. I use the hose to get them down from the canopy. If there's a lot of them, you have to use a scoop shovel and scoop 'em."

Moore throws mayflies in the dumpster, because using the hose to wash them into the street makes the insects stink more. Even when they're dry, the smell is hard to miss. Majid Chaudhry, an employee at Pump N Munch, said he spent two hours Monday cleaning up dead mayflies with a hose and leaf blower. Owner Tammy Cruz is equally disgusted by the insects.

"When they're piled up like the other night, you open up the door and they squish under the door," said Cruz. "They're gross. They pop. When you walk through them, they crunch."

Cruz takes precautions each spring to keep the mayflies away, like shutting off the lights inside the store. While it doesn't solve the problem, it keeps the insects near the gas pumps, and allows people to get in the door easier the next morning. Sue Jorgenson, whose Amoco station was littered with mayflies early in the week, was equally annoyed by the insects.

"I don't know what you want me to say," said Jorgenson. "But they're awful, and they serve no purpose."

While mayflies probably serve no direct purpose for local residents and business owners, Gary Montz, a research scientist for the Minnesota DNR, says the pests are a great source of food for fish and other animals.

"They're an excellent source of food for aquatic wildlife," said Montz. "If you ever run into fishermen, I'm sure they'll give you a long list of lures they use that imitate the mayfly."

Montz admits the insects are annoying pests, but says La Crescent residents should see large amounts of mayflies as a good indication of an environmentally clean area.

"Mayflies have been known to be less tolerant to pollution," said Montz. "Having more of them is normally a sign that your river, lake, or stream is healthy."

But what can people do with those large amounts of dead mayflies? In the past, some communities near Lake Erie in Ohio used mayflies as compost, mixing them with leaves, grass, and scraps of vegetables. Montz said the mixture probably wouldn't work as fertilizer, but could have some benefit as mulch.

"You could get some nutrient value if you were sprinkling them on your garden or whatnot, but they're very small bodies, so it would be limited.," said Montz.

Whether you hate mayflies or use them to your advantage, they'll be around every summer, and as Montz says, at least they're only around for a short time.

"Sure, they're annoying and they come out in swarms," said Montz. "But they're unlike our other state insect, the mosquito, which comes out year-round."