Controlling the mosquito population

The summer season is on its way, and with it comes mosquitoes. During this time, Cache County carries out mosquito fogging to control the mosquito population, and to minimize the risk of diseases like West Nile Virus from spreading.

So when does the county start the mosquito fogging?

“We basically wait until we start seeing an increase in adult mosquito numbers over our threshold count, because we set up surveillance traps to study that. We also rely on phone calls from people in areas that are reporting lots of mosquitoes,” said Administrative Manager Terrie Wierenga. 

Due to high numbers of mosquitoes, Cache Mosquito Abatement District started fogging at the beginning of the month. Prior to fogging, field workers check standing water for mosquito larva. For ten hours each day, Monday through Friday, field workers gather and count mosquito larva. Wierenga said that 80 percent of their time is spent on mosquito larvicide.

While Cache County covers the majority of the county, they do not fog every city.

“We cover everything except Logan City, College-Young Ward, River Heights, and Paradise,” Wierenga explained.

Logan City and College-Young Ward have their own local abatement personnel. River Heights and Paradise elected not to join the district in mosquito fogging back in 2004.

Logan City Mosquito Abatement Coordinator Joe Archer said that what Logan City does is very similar to that of Cache County.

“We rarely spray more than two nights out of the week,” said Archer.

Archer said a lot of people want to be notified when the city sprays and there are others who choose not to be sprayed at all. He said this year, they have about 40 people who have made no spray requests.

Wierenga said the county is about the same, with 40 people requesting to not be sprayed.

“The majority don’t want it because they are beekeepers. After that, it’s organic farming. We also have a few with serious health impacts,” she said.

Mosquito fogging occurs at night since that is when mosquitoes are out. This also helps lower the chances of harming beneficial insects such as bees. 

The climate and environment can impact mosquito fogging. If it is too windy, humid, or if it is raining, then mosquito fogging can’t occur.

For further information on mosquito fogging, visit <a href=”http://www.cachemosquito.com/index.html” target=”_blank”>cachemosquito.com</a> for Cache County and <a href=”http://www.loganutah.org/Environmental/Mosquito%20Abatement/” target=”_blank”>loganutah.org</a> for Logan City.      

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