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Show Mosquitoes itch for next attack By MARK EDDINGTON Staff Writer FARMINGTON Davis County pest control officials offi-cials have their eyes on the clouds and fingers crossed, hoping late spring rains and unseasonably warm temperatures won't produce another bumper crop of mosquitoes. Swarms of mosquitoes invaded Davis County last year, sending residents scurrying indoors to escape the pesky hordes. The problem, brought on by warm temperatures and late spring rains, was worst in residential areas west of Interstate 15 that were closest to marshes along the Great Salt Lake. Mosquito Abatement director Keith Ipson remembers re-members how the calls for relief kept pouring in and the difficulty his 11 -member crew had in dealing with the numbers. And while he says he is not itching for a rematch, he vows to be ready if a similar weather pattern pat-tern produces another bumper crop this year. 'If we're talking about a match, they would probably prob-ably win,' Ipson laughingly explained. "The mosquitoes mos-quitoes are pretty tough little cookies. I'm hoping to have a little better control then we did last year. We're doing everything we can to do that, and at this point in time, I feel pretty good about it." Crews have already sprayed marshy areas by hand and by air three times. Irrigation patterns, weather and other factors will dictate the frequency and amount of spray used in the future. "Hey, this is a wait and see operation," Ipson added. "I can't make any predictions. We monitor and check it (problem areas) whenever the mosquitoes hit. ' ' SEE MOSQUITO ON A-2 i. tion in the early '80s showed a large number of mosquito species had become resistant to many of the chemicals used. That, and the withdrawal of other effective sprays from the market, made it necessary for officials to rum to newer, less effective and often costlier alternatives. alter-natives. BTI, used to rid the state of the gypsy moth, is now the chemical larvicide of choice. Timing is everything if it is to be effective. The best results are obtained when it is applied to mosquito larvae which is in a critical stage. Too soon or too late of an application renders the chemical completely ineffective. in-effective. A synthetic pyrethrim is used by local officials to kill adult mosquitoes. mos-quitoes. Once again, the timing is essential. It also is rendered harmless if the temperature is too hot or cold, or the humidity is low. Costs have also skyrocketed, Ip-son Ip-son said. One gallon of chemical concentrate, for example, costs about $220. About $55,000 of the $127,000 budgeted for the program in fiscal year '91 went to pay for chemicals, leaving little left over to pay salaries or operate and maintain equipment. The skyrocketing costs caused local officials to tack an additional 42 percent onto the budget last August to pay for the increase. Ip-son Ip-son said he feels confident that the more experience his crews have with the new control agents, the more they can effectively reduce the population to comfortable levels. "It will be a whole new ballgame this year, but hopefully we can stay on top of it," he said. Abatement officials are urging residents to assist in control efforts by ridding their yards and neighborhoods of standing pools of water and other habitats which make for ideal breeding grounds. "The water is the thing that really real-ly kills us," Ipson explained. "It will build up into small puddles and pools.. .That's where we get a lot of the mosquitoes. " Mosquito CONTINUED FROM A-l Mosquito abatement districts all along the Wasatch Front have experienced expe-rienced problems controlling the pests since heavy rains raised the level of the Great Salt Lake in the early 1980s and flooded lakefront marshes and waterfowl management manage-ment areas. As the water receded, thousands of acres of marshland recovered and became a prime breeding sites for new generations of mosquitoes, making eradication and control a major undertaking. Another factor which has exacerbated exacer-bated the problem is the increasing resistance mosquitoes have to traditional, tradi-tional, cost-effective chemicals. Most traditional sprays used in the last decade were organo-phosphate chemicals like Malathion, Baytex and Dursban. But a study conducted by the Utah Mosquito Abatement Associa- |