5th-graders appeal to Legislature to make stonefly Michigan's insect

Teacher Emma Witkovsky was putting together a booklet of facts about the 50 U.S. states for her students and noticed something unexpected when she got to Michigan's information.

"I said to my husband, 'Michigan doesn't have a state insect, and all of the other states do, except Iowa,'" said Witkovsky, a fifth-grade teacher at Grand Rapids Public Schools' Aberdeen Academy.

Her husband suggested Witkovsky have her students write to lawmakers in Lansing to establish a state insect. So, at the suggestion of their teacher, who admits she's "obsessed with bugs," the students rallied around the stonefly, often found on the best and cleanest of Michigan's rivers and streams.

The students spent the school year learning about stoneflies and their life cycle, preparing their arguments, and writing to their local state representative, Rachel Hood. Hood, a Grand Rapids Democrat, visited Witkovsky's class in March to praise the students' initiative and talk about how bills become law. Republican State Sen. Huizenga also got on board. And bills to name the stonefly Michigan's state insect are now before committees in both the state House and Senate.

"It was a great opportunity to push my students, especially in their writing," Witkovsky said. "And it helped them begin to understand this is how your government works, and how you can affect it — to understand your voice does matter. Even as a kid, you can still make changes."

Amanda Weber was a student in the class. "I honestly thought it was cool," the 10-year-old said. "I've never done something like this before in any other class."

Nineteen of the 48 U.S. states with designated state insects chose the honeybee. While recognizing their importance as pollinators, "we talked about standing out and being different from other states," Witkovsky said.

Stoneflies are aquatic insects for most of their lives. They live for three years or more in the water as nymphs, going through numerous growth phases. They then crawl onto stones along rivers and streams — hence the name — and eventually make their last transition to winged insects. Stoneflies uniquely stack their wings flat on top of their backs, and they aren't great flyers, typically not venturing far from their hatch points. They live for a couple of days, mate, and the female heads back to the water surface to deposit fertilized eggs in the water to start the life cycle once again. The insects then die.

If you see a stonefly, the water nearby is clean

Stoneflies are a prized food source for Michigan's state fish, the brook trout; and Michigan's designated state bird, the robin. The state turtle, the painted turtle, will also take opportunities to eat them, Witkovsky noted.

Stoneflies emerge from the middle of winter into June, said Eric Benbow, a professor of entomology — bug science — at Michigan State University.

"There's one major family (of stonefly) that emerges in winter — I've seen them crawling on ice and snow," he said.

Stoneflies are sentinels for water quality, Benbow said — they require clean, highly oxygenated water to thrive, and tend to avoid even slightly polluted waterways.

Benbow had no part in the project to name the stonefly Michigan's state insect, but he supports the idea.

"I think it's great for Michigan," he said. "We value our aquatic resources; we value our streams and rivers; we value fly-fishing. Stoneflies are representatives of one of the best areas of the world for fresh water. I think it's a fantastic choice for state insect."

Hood visited Witkovsky's class in March, talked with students about how bills become law, and presented each student with a copy of her House Bill 5563 of 2024, which simply states, "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: Sec. 1. The stonefly ( Pteronarcys sp. ) is designated as the official insect of this state."

Prior to her election as a state representative, Hood was executive director of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, a nonprofit organization whose environmental advocacy includes water quality and watershed health. Its initiatives include Teach for the Watershed, a program to ensure Grand Rapids Public Schools students receive watershed education, understand policies and governance of water, and develop a sense of responsibility to take care of Michigan's Great Lakes and other freshwater resources.

How a fly becomes law

"To see these students organically take that idea and do this as a class, I was thrilled," Hood said. "To take their idea and give them voice in the Legislature was really just thrilling."

Hood's bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation, while Huizenga's companion Senate bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture. Both bills would need to be voted out of committee, then approved by the full House and Senate, and then require Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's signature to become law and officially designate the stonefly as Michigan's state insect.

The bills won't really cost much, just some staff time to record the designation, and then republishing it into state guides when the time comes for new ones, Hood said.

"Our fisheries are an important economic tool," she said. "If we can convince more folks to come to Michigan to fly-fish instead of Montana or Minnesota because we have a state stonefly, and we regard it so highly, so be it. That would be fun and educational."

Ramir Franklin, 11, a student in Witkovsky's class, took part in a class field trip to Kent County's Rogue River to find stoneflies. He got to hold a stonefly aquatic nymph — no small act of courage, as they're objectively creepy-looking.

"I'm not scared of them," he said.

Franklin called the process of advocating for the stonefly to the Legislature "amazing."

"I'm excited," he said. "If it doesn't make it, oh well. At least we tried."

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 5th-graders appeal to Legislature to make stonefly Michigan's insect