MOSQUITO CONTROL

Normally, this is the man-against-nature time of

the year when human beings believe they can actually rid mosquitoes from their lives. They’re mistaken, of course, and it’s a good thing. Mosquitoes aren’t going to disappear, nor should they.

As pesky as they are, mosquitoes play an important role in the ecosystem. While they may appear to us as an annoying pest, they serve as an important source of food to many other fellow animals.

We’re getting a break this year due to recent weather conditions, but it’s not likely to last. Mosquitoes will return and they will be here to stay, year after year.

In a typical year, most every community in the area is busy spraying a chemical fog in an effort to control mosquitoes. From our observations, sometimes it’s sprayed when a wind carries it off and it’s often applied from a vehicle moving faster than the recommended speed. In other words, its effectiveness is generally limited.

Fogging is at best a temporary measure. There are always more mosquitoes to fill the ranks of those that do succumb.

As an expert explains in an article in this week’s Observer, communities would be better off spending their money on larvacides that prevent mosquitoes from reaching adulthood. It’s much more effective than the fog that spreads a poison everywhere and kills off many insects other than mosquitoes.

There’s probably a price to pay with any method. Large-scale larvacide efforts on the East Coast are now suspected of reducing the lobster population, from storm water runoff. Who knows how aquatic life might be affected inland?

As control specialists always point out, citizens can play an important role in fighting mosquitoes. A pail in the yard, a tarp covering equipment, a birdbath with old water, clogged gutters—these are the areas that some mosquitoes species love for breeding. It’s not the healthy wetlands that are the problem, it’s our back yards.

Cover up and get out the repellent to reduce the annoyance. And in the meantime, check around your own yard. You might be contributing to the problem.