National Mosquito Control Awareness Week (June 19-25, 2022)
Join us for the National Mosquito Control Awareness Week that extends from June 19-25. Without your support and involvement with TCWP, our mosquito efforts would be in vain. Outreach and community involvement from concerned citizens of Teton County are necessary for an effective Integrated Pest Management system.
If you see our full-time or seasonal staff out working in the field give them a friendly wave or say hello! They work long hours in hot, not to mention, “buggy” conditions. Without their hard work our county would be swarmed with mosquitoes. Say farewell to evenings on your back porch! Thankfully, our mosquito team uses a variety of methods this time of year to reduce mosquitoes before they get out of control.
Mosquito Habitat
Mosquitoes need stagnant water to survive and grow. We work with landowners and renters such as yourselves to reduce mosquito habitat. When ranchers reduce the amount or length of time that stagnant water sits on their irrigated fields, the overall mosquito populations will decrease as well.
Those who aren’t ranchers also have unique opportunities to help. Check your yard to see if there are any containers that hold water. Remember, mosquitoes need standing water to survive—but they don’t need much of it. An inch or two of standing water in a small plastic container is plenty of habitat for hundreds of mosquitoes to grow. Empty out your bird baths, empty boats, rubber tires, plastic bottles, and any other container that could hold water. We’re all in this together—so do your part!
Mosquito Larval Control
When habitat reduction is difficult or impossible, we survey areas like flood irrigated fields, snowmelt puddles, or naturally flooded areas off of the Snake River for signs of mosquito larvae in stagnant water. Then, we treat the water with BTI. BTI is a fantastic pesticide because it is often considered organic (it’s a bacteria) and it only kills mosquito larvae when applied at the proper rate. Therefore, we can kill mosquitoes without hurting anything else in the environment—it’s a win-win! Plus, larvae are easy to kill because they are concentrated, can’t leave the water, and are generally accessible. Plus, they are killed before they turn into adult mosquitoes. Therefore, we kill them before and not after they bite you. Hence, larval control is a fantastic part of IPM.
If you have standing water near your home or place of work, give us a call. With the proper permission, we can come survey the area for mosquito larvae and work with you to come up with a solution to any mosquito-related problem.
Mosquito Adult Control
Although often effective, this action is our last resort. Most of the time habitat reduction and larval control work well enough to avoid adult control. However, certain circumstances may require adult control. Some years we see significant flooding from snow melt which may increase mosquito populations county-wide. Under circumstances like this, our habitat reduction and larval control fall short. We trap mosquitoes in these areas to detect how many are captured in a 24-hour time period. If our trap numbers reach a specific threshold, we may apply Ultra Low Volume spray (ULV), often called “fogging” or “spraying.” Although ULV spray is effective, it can kill other flying insects of similar size to mosquitoes. Therefore, we attempt to exhaust all other mosquito control efforts before we choose to adulticide.
Have you ever heard the quote “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? That saying rings true when it comes to mosquito abatement in Teton County. If we can prevent mosquitoes from becoming adults, we have won most of the battle. Contact us for any questions regarding water on your property, which pesticides we use, and how we can help you reduce mosquitoes where you live. Tell your friends and neighbors about National Mosquito Control Awareness Week to spread the word!