County mosquito control program renewed for next three years

Cost increase won’t affect county budget

By Adam Broderick and Olivia Lueckemeyer

Last summer was an unusually wet one and mosquitoes seemed to hang around later than usual, taking advantage of excess stagnant water in much of the valley. To address the possibility of West Nile Virus spreading throughout Gunnison County and beyond, $258,097.16 will be spent over the next three years to analyze and control mosquito populations in the area.

A contractual agreement between the county commissioners and Denver-based pest management company Colorado Mosquito Control (CMC) outlines the three-year spend: A 2 percent increase from last year, to $87,602 in 2016, followed by an additional 2 percent increase in both 2017 and 2018.

CMC has been Gunnison County’s mosquito management service provider since 1992.

CMC says the cost increase was implemented due to recent significant growth in operating expenses. The scope of work outlined in the contract includes services such as larval and adult mosquito surveillance and trapping, survey and mapping services, public outreach and education, and more.

County officials expressed no concerns with the cost increase. The money will be offset from revenues already in the county’s mosquito district fund.

According to county commissioner Paula Swenson, those with property in the mosquito district see an annual mill assessment on their property tax, and that pays the contract with CMC. The town of Crested Butte is not located in the mosquito district.

The contract stipulates that the cost increase will include all labor, insecticides, vehicles and equipment, administrative support and overhead expenses. But not “overhead” as in “from above,” since the practice of aerial pesticide spraying has not been undertaken since local anglers spoke up in 2012 after a noticeable amount of aquatic insects died following a spray.

Swenson says the county has discontinued the practice ever since and that there is no intention to resume aerial applications.

According to the contract, larval mosquito control operations take place on an as-needed basis from May through September, and are dependent upon environmental conditions and the presence of larvae. After performing site inspections, CMC first attempts to mitigate the populations using cultural or physical controls to reduce standing water and larval development.

If these efforts are not sufficient, CMC will then treat sites where larvae are detected with a prescription-oriented, minimally-toxic biological control method, such as a spray application.

As of now, the CMC is still in the process of collecting field data by observing and sampling accumulated water within the service area. CMC operations manager Chris Kruthaupt reports it is still too cold to begin control operations, however as temperatures rise throughout mid May, his team will begin to treat emerging larval populations.

“There is a lot of larvae in the water, but they haven’t matured because it’s still so cold at night,” Kruthaupt explained. “They will continue to emerge over the next week, and once they hatch, it happens fast. Right now we are just gathering data, getting maps and locations identified and waiting for a big emergence.”

Kruthaupt says it is impossible to tell how often and for how long control operations will occur, however based on previous years and the data gathered so far, it should be a busy season for the CMC.

“It depends on so many different factors, but it seems like every year there are plenty of mosquitos,” Kruthaupt said.