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Show A2 Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Vernal Express Uintah Mosquito Abatement battles billions By Mary Bernard Express Writer The Green River, for those living in Jensen, is known as one of the best mosquito habitats in the U.S. Mosquitoes breed there even in a dry year. This year's flooding could have brought billions of bloodsuckers blood-suckers had it not been for early action of the Uintah Mosquito Abatement District. "The Green River had its highest flows in more than a . V V J Close up of a daytime biter, the Aedes mosquito, as it consumes its blood meal. This year has been a banner year for mosquitoes mosqui-toes in the Uintah Vernal XT i 1 (USPS 0892-1091) Periodica postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Vernal Express at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 435-789-35 1 1 , Fax: 435-789-8690 DEADLINES: News, legal notices, classified ads and display ads must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication "" PUBLISHER: Kevin Ashby - kashbyvernal.com " " ' ' ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Les Bowen - lbowenvernaI.com . ADVERTISING MANAGER: Byran Marshall - bmarshallvernal.com ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbsjhobbsvernal.com CLASSIFIED: Tonya Harmer classifiedsvernal.com OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard mbernardvenial.com Ryan Allen - sportsfffvemal.com PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby Michele Roper On the Web: http:www.vernal.com Email: editorvernal.com Subscription Rates: I Clin and Rend tn- In the Uintah Basin Vernal Express Out I I 34 in. vernal Ave Vernal, Utah 84078 Name Address l I City Cash or Check only, decade, " explained Kirk Robbins, district director, "creatingprime mosquito habitat along the river corridor.". River flow rates of 24,000 cubic cu-bic feet per second have flooded areas that have been dry for the last 10 years. In fact, estimates are that flooding and seepage added 70 percent more ideal breeding habitat. "We got a jump on the river early this year; first, because it is so immense and second, because the year is so wet, " Robbins said. "And there's still 1,600 mapped ponds and pools in the valley that we usually treat in addition to the river." The flooding hid watery pools of breeding insects among the trees and tall grass. Researchers had to walk, float and fourwheel throughout Jensen. Their tests found hundredss of mosquito larvae in every backwater pool. "Typically, we think 50 to 100 mosquito larvae in a pint dipper is a big number," the director explained. "A sample of 10 larvae per dip in a 1,000 acre source could project a population of 5 billion mosquitoes. Here, we were looking at many thousands of acres." Under the circumstances, the district started to combat the potential hatch in April. "We use a four-pronged approach ap-proach that kills insects in different differ-ent stages of their development, " he said, "By killing larvae, pupae and adults before the problem gets out of hand." On May 10 when the river rose more than 10,000 cfs mosquito lYr.$26-2Yr.$48 Out of the Uintah Basin lYr.$42-2Yrs. $70 of State -1 Yr.$46 2Yrs. S80 Zip4 Sorry No Charges The credit union we'd been with forever wouldn't lend on our existing equity. Grand Valley National Bank said, 'Wliat are your needs? How can we make this easiest for you?' They bent over backwards to make our construction loan smooth as can be." Gary & Michelle Jensen f t 3. .... , ' - ai I .v-i - . . .''-r , !t ' .-r ' ,: ; : .v.i . - fir . : . . - , Some 20 firefighters using four apparatus and two brush trucks battle flames Thursday night after flames engulfed a woof pile near 1100 South Vernal Ave. Crews worked more than seven hours to contain and extinguish the fire that destroyed one home, damaged a second and threatened several more. control began aerial spraying of a biological larvicide called Bti. Bti is short for the long Latin name of a crystal producing bacteria that is poisonous to mosquito larvae. "We use the aerial spray, dropping the Bti on the water for the larvae to eat," Robbins said, smiling as he explains that Bti changes the pH of the insect's stomach so they die. "One flight of 240 gallons of Bti covers 19,000 acres of mosquito habitat. It kills 85 to 90 percent of the larvae." Once the larvae advance to the subadult (pupae) stage they do not feed so Bti cannot be used. However, mosquito pupae float just below the surface in order to breath. To kill them, the district Rocky Point's overlook of south in the late spring of 2008. Many relationship. '".i-TErn i 4 restricts their air supply. "We eradicate mosquito pupae by spreading a monomolecular film on the water, so they suffocate," suf-focate," Robbins said. "The film disperses to a thickness of one molecule. We only need one quart per acre." As with Bti or the monomi-crofilm, monomi-crofilm, all materials used by the district have to be considered for impacts to people, plants and animals. Robbins explains that mosquitoes mos-quitoes and biting black flies are threatened by Bti, but it has no affect on animals. The monomi-crofilm monomi-crofilm is inert and can placed on fish ponds, horse troughs and dog dishes. Remember the 5 billion potential poten-tial mosquitoes on 1,000 acres? Jensen shows large ponds created by flooding of the Green River of these areas have not seen flooding in 1 0 years. You'll find all the convenient financial products and services you'll need at Grand Valley National Bank, provided with a personal, friendly touch. We'll get to know you well, and we'll work hard to provide everything you expect from your ideal banking ii-ii i i By using the Bti and monomicro-film, monomicro-film, the district cut the number of biting adults from 5 billion to less than 100,000. T o kill adults, an organophosphate adulticide is sprayed as a fog-ger fog-ger over the remaining habitat during the hatch. Considerably less insecticide is needed as the number of mosquitoes has been drastically reduced. "It 's important that public health is protected through these measures and the environment is not harmed in the process," Robbins explains. "Once the adult mosquitoes hatch they can fly miles looking for a blood meal. Sometimes up to 20 miles and from here, that's all of the Ashley Valley." Mosquitoes are more than just - WiiumiiiiuiM MWA a nuisance, they diseases like West Nile Virus or Equine and Saint Louis Encephalitis. Of the 1 0 mosquito species found locally the Culex variety is best known for carrying West Nile. "Culex bites at night," the director said. "So the best way to protect yourself from them is wear long sleeves and pants, if you have to go out in the evening. So far, none of the Culex found in the area have been found to carry the active virus." The district maintains mosquito mos-quito traps throughout the area and that contain Culex are sent to the State Health Department for determination. They also keep a flock of chickens that are bled periodically to see whether the birds have been exposed to the virus. Most mosquitoes last only for the season. They hatch, eat, lay eggs and die, but not the Culex mosquito. "Culex females the only ones that bite can winter over in sheds, rodent burrows or even your house," said Robbins. "Culex "Cu-lex are the later hatch, they love to hide in baby pools or flower pots. And they can lay up to 300 eggs in one egg wrap." The best way to protect your horses from West Nile is vaccination. vac-cination. Even better, do not let pools of water collect on your property. "Public education is last part of the district's approach to mosquito abatement. Don't let water stand. If you have to have a pond, toss an Altosid brickett in the water," Robbins explains. "It's nontoxic to animals, but it'll kill the mosquito larvae." "People call now when they see a few mosquitoes. And I tell them, this is nothing just a fraction frac-tion of what we could have had. Back in the old days though, the sky was thick with them," the director said. Maybe so, Jensen was once called Jurassic Park by the former for-mer Uintah Mosquito Abatement District director Steve Romney. According to Wade Slaugh, district board member for years, Jensen residents decided that something had to be done about the mosquito problem back in the 1960s. "It was so bad, you hardly took a water turn," Slaugh said. "Mervin Dudley and Willey Stew-. Stew-. art organized the district back then. We collected $25 per family and began looking for a director. We found Steve, who agreed to move to Vernal and the rest is history." Today, the Mosquito Abatement Abate-ment District raises funds through property taxes. Enemy plan Continued irom Al McKee noted that some aspects of federal consultation requirements have been overtly manipulated to cause lengthy delays. "I have an example. I have a resource allocation document with comments from the Environmental Envi-ronmental Protection Agency," he continued, "that says the document fails to disclose the effects of climate change among the alternatives." The EPA query, McKee goes on to say is beyond the Bcope of the potential area of effect. It moves into the realm of global issues that cannot be considered adequately in a project specific EIS. "Let's solve our own problems prob-lems here where the resources are availuble," said the commissioner. com-missioner. McKee concluded by asking for a serious discussion of new refineries, saying that the time for action is here. |