No mosquito spraying this year, for now

Notice from Norfolk County Mosquito Control says it is too dry to make aerial larvacide spraying logical –

The State Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board
NORFOLK COUNTY MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT
61 Endicott Street, Building #34, Norwood, MA 02062
(781) 762-3681 fax: (781) 769-6436
http://www.norfolkcountymosquito.org
DAVID A. LAWSON
Acting Director

To: Boards of Health
From: David A. Lawson, Acting Director
Date: April 3, 2012

RE: Aerial Application 2012

The Norfolk County Mosquito Control District has utilized aerial larvicide as a strategic tool in helping to control mosquitoes for many decades. Specifically, we have consistently conducted a county-wide aerial larvicide for the last 11 years. This year, we have been presented with a unique situation.  Southeastern Massachusetts has experienced the driest first 3 months since records have been kept.  This situation has caused many of the wetlands of our district to dry up completely and some to have very low water levels.

We have conducted larval mosquito surveys and have concluded that it would be irresponsible for us to conduct an aerial larvicide at this point. We believe that the natural conditions alone will control more mosquitoes than we could hope to in a ‘normal’ year, and to expend the funds we normally use for this application would not be the best use of the funds the towns contribute for the operation of the District.

We will continue to monitor the environment and if any significant rains arrive we may have to respond with aerial larvicide at a later date. If significant rains do not arrive in the next few weeks, we may have one of the lightest mosquito emergences in a long time. Due to some very warm early weather in March, the mosquito larvae that are present are more advanced than in most years. With some warm weather, we may see adult mosquitoes out earlier than normal possibly in late April or early May, when we normally see them in mid to late May.

In the meantime, we are currently hand larviciding smaller sites. Be reminded that our truck mounted ULV spray program is temperature dependent and will likely still begin around Memorial Day as night-time temperatures are high enough. If you have any questions, please do contact us.