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Highlands Today

County Looks At Mosquito Control Options

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: September 17, 2008

SEBRING - The Highlands County commissioners got some good news, and also some warnings, on Tuesday about the increase in mosquitoes in the wake of Tropical Storm Fay.

The good news?

"There is a pest issue, but there is no evidence for concern for disease (carried by mosquitoes)," Roxanne Connelly, a University of Florida professor who specializes in mosquitoes and mosquito control, said about the current situation in Highlands County.

The warnings?

Connelly told county officials they can't count on disease-carrying mosquitoes staying out of Highlands County, and they can't count on cool weather coming soon to kill the mosquito threat.

After listening to Connelly and two other mosquito experts talk about the county's options, the commissioners instructed county Administrator Michael Wright to come back next week with estimated costs for a mosquito surveillance program.
Mosquito surveillance means trapping mosquitoes at locations around the county, then identifying their numbers and the types of mosquitoes. From that information, county officials would know if residents face a threat from either disease-carrying mosquitoes or pest mosquitoes, and if so, how big the threat is.

Surveillance is critical because without it county officials can't know exactly what they're dealing with, according to all three experts: Connelly, Wayne Gale, director of the Lee County Mosquito Control District, and Frank Clarke, president of Clarke Mosquito Control, the biggest company in its field in the United States.

Wright asked Connelly if the mosquito season is likely to end soon with the onset of cooler fall temperatures.

"Whether or not we're at the end of the season, we don't know," Connelly answered. She works at the University of Florida's Vero Beach laboratory, dedicated to mosquito control research, in Indian River County. In her home county, Connelly said, spikes in the mosquito population can break out year-round.

Gale, who directs a $15 million per year mosquito control program in coastal Lee County, and Clarke, head of a third-generation firm headquartered in Kissimmee that does more contract mosquito control than any other company nationwide, both said an effective mosquito control program has many parts.

Both said an effective program includes surveillance of the mosquito population, ground and aerial spraying of insecticides, biological controls including mosquito fish and a bacteria that kills mosquito larvae and pupae, plus education of the public.

Gale and Clarke said they use "ultra low volume spraying," with from less than one ounce to no more than several ounces of insecticide per acre. Both said this type of spraying does not harm other animals.

Connelly, though, told the commissioners that with chemical spraying "there will be some things (animal life) that are contacted and die that are not mosquitoes."

Rick Ingler, vice chairman of the Highlands County Homeowners Association, said the issue of chemical vs. biological control of mosquitoes was discussed at the group's last meeting.

"I'd like to see biological controls included in the discussion" on any mosquito-control operation launched in Highlands County, Ingler said. He said he was speaking on behalf of the homeowners association.

Edgar Stokes, chairman of the county commissioners, watched the meeting from home on TV due to medical reasons. Stokes called in near the end of the mosquito discussion.

Talking to the county commission audience over a speaker phone, Stokes said he wanted to let people who want mosquito fish know that a local farm in the Venus area, Happy Trails Aquatics, has mosquito fish available. He also gave the farm's phone number.

About mosquito fish, Gale said, "They do work, they do control mosquitoes, but they are very labor intensive." These fish work well in permanent water such as lakes or ponds, he said, but aren't effective in temporary pools of water that appear with heavy rains and later dry out.

"They do have their place (in mosquito control), but they are not the be-all and end-all to mosquito control," he said.

The commissioners appear likely to launch a mosquito surveillance program to determine if there is a threat and, if so, how big a threat.

Vicki Pontius, the county parks and recreation director, told commissioners mosquito surveillance is not inexpensive. In 2005, she said, the county paid $1,572 to trap mosquitoes one time, overnight in six locations, and then have them identified and counted.

Connelly, Gale and Clarke all said without the trapping and identification, local officials can't know whether disease-carrying mosquitoes are around, how little or big the problem is, or how to deal with it effectively.

"Right now, it's not a big threat," Clarke said about disease-carrying mosquitoes in Highlands County. But, he said, the only way to prevent mosquito-born disease over the long term is having an ongoing mosquito control program.

"The key is to start with surveillance" at the start of every summer, he said.

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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