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Red Deer experiencing high number of mosquitoes

City has completed two “fairly major” summer campaigns
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Red Deer’s mosquito population is up significantly from consistent precipitation. (File photo by Ned Rozell/Yukon News)

This has been a mosquito-filled summer so far in Red Deer, says a city official.

“Due to the amount of rain that has fallen over a relatively short period, it’s resulted in one of the larger (nuisance mosquito) summer programs … we’ve seen in the last few years,” said Ken Lehman, the city’s parks ecological services operations co-ordinator.

The City of Red Deer has completed two “fairly major” summer campaigns, where crews spread an organic mosquito control agent in wet pockets, said Lehman.

Typically a big spring campaign is held as well. But Lehman said that campaign was “quite tight and quick” this year because there wasn’t a lot of moisture at the time.

“In Central and South Alberta, the rains that have fallen recently have caused hatching, so we’re seeing some of these nuisance mosquitoes – the adults – buzzing around and annoying us,” Lehman said.

“We’re certainly seeing more mosquitoes now. There are more adults flying around. Although we have been successful in treating a lot of areas in town.”

For the campaigns, crews go around the city to monitor wet pockets where the city knows mosquitoes have developed. Crews also find new areas each year, said Lehman.

“This year we’ve found some new areas because we’ve had more intense rain periods here in the last few weeks,” he said, adding the most effective method of limiting mosquitoes is hitting them in the larva stage.

“We go out, we find those larvae right when they hatch – it’s actually almost hard to see them unless you’re looking for them and you’ve got a trained eye. When we pick them up, we know we have a certain period of time to treat them, which involved spreading a granular product called (Bacillus thuringiensis serotype israelensis) on the surface of the water.

“That spreads … over the surface of the water. The larvae have to come and breath through syphons, like a snorkle. They have to breathe air to develop and to live. When they’re going to the surface, they have to breathe in a portion of that bacteria.”

The bacteria doesn’t impact any other critters in the system, Lehman noted.

The city isn’t trying to completely eliminate mosquitoes, it’s simply trying to keep them at a tolerable level, Lehman stressed.

“There are bad mosquitoes out there right now, which is bad for us, but great for songbird populations. Songbirds can have them outside of the city, so we try to manage them so they’re tolerable within city limits so our summer are more enjoyable,” he said.

Lehman said he’s grateful there has been a notable level of mosquito control in the city, but Red Deerians should take precaution to protect themselves from the pesky insect.

“People should cover up at dawn and dusk, avoid those long-grass areas, wear long sleeves and long pants at those times of day,” he said, adding people should take precautions in their yards as well.

“Eliminate any standing water, cover rain barrels, clean out your gutters and make sure water’s flowing so nothing’s standing. That’s where some of our nuisance mosquitos like to lay eggs and then when they’re wet, they’ll emerge into larvae, and larvae develops into the adults that cause us annoyance.”

Lehman said it’s hard to predict how the rest of the summer will look.

“We’ll take it as it comes from here on. This week is looking fairly dry. It’s kind of our first break since we had the (rain) dump over the last few weeks,” he said.

For more information on mosquito control, visit www.reddeer.ca/city-services/environment-and-conservation/your-community/mosquito-control.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Ken Lehman said he’s grateful there has been a notable level of mosquito control in the city, but Red Deerians should take precaution to protect themselves from the pesky insect. (AP Photo/LM Otero)


Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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