Wet conditions could make for rough, early mosquito season

Before heading-out for your Memorial Day camping trip, there’s something you probably shouldn’t leave at home – bug spray.

The Bannock County Mosquito Abatement District is particularly busy this year, after record moisture levels this spring, combined with the warming temps, are creating the perfect conditions for mosquito breeding grounds.

While most of us just see puddles, the district’s supervisor David Herter sees what lies beneath…and it’ll make you squirm.

“Now that we are starting to have nice, beautiful spring and summer days, we’re going to start seeing those water temperatures rise and the larvae is going to start growing a lot faster,” Herter said. “So, we’re going to get really busy.”

He said the district has already seen adult mosquitos in parts of southern Bannock County.

On Tuesday night, the county’s mosquito abatement crews will start implementing the fogging program starting in the Downey area, to Lava, and ending in Inkom. He said this is an effort to get rid of the adult mosquito population already seen in that area.

On Friday, crews will spray larvicide in a fly-over across the Downey area to rid that region of the larvae before they turn into adults.

It’s now a race against the clock to take care of these pesky wigglers before the weather starts becoming warmer, and they continue to breed and develop into adulthood even faster.

“It’s amazing what a few degrees will do,” Herter said. “They just love standing water. The calmer, the happier they are. That’s because they need to come up and breathe.”

Herter said there are a few things you can do to prevent the mosquito population from becoming too much of a problem at your home:

Most importantly, it goes without saying, make sure to rid your yard of any standing water. He said, if you have a birdbath, drain it every couple of days. If you have a fountain, keep it running.

Next, he said to keep your grass cut short, and get rid of any excess weeds since mosquitos love hiding in tall grass as well as near calm, warm water.

Currently, Herter and his crew are trying to find more eco-friendly, green ways to get rid of these pests, starting with the various types of surveillance methods they practice before heading into areas they think might be infested.

“We have to first determine where the larvae are and then determine how to best get rid of them. We do a lot of adult trapping, testing, and surveillance before we ever use any chemical applications.”

He said they started using a product called DeltaGard, which is a water-based insecticide.

“You only need a tiny amount the size of an aspirin tablet that could take care of an area the size of a football field. So we’re also using far less product.”

This past week, Herter met with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. to lobby for more funding to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to help local crews control the mosquito population.

He also said this money will allow the CDC to study and research what new viruses these mosquitos could carry into our area.

The West Nile virus made its way into Bannock County back in 2007, and the abatement district found six West Nile positives in adult traps this past year.

Herter said, he doesn’t believe Zika is a threat here in the region at this point, but said the abatement district and the CDC are continuing to monitor that just to be safe and ensure we never see that virus make its way into this area.

If you have any questions or if you’d like help ridding your property of mosquitos, you can call the Bannock County Mosquito Abatement District at: 208.236.7409