SMVCD fights mosquitos, plans expansion

Map courtesy of SMVCD

PROPOSED EXPANSION -- Shasta County landowners living in the gray area outlined in black will vote in May to decide if they want the area to become annexed to SMVCD.

Photo by Michael Woodward, Reporter

PEST CONTROL: Inmates of the Sugar Pine Minimum Security Correctional Facility clear vegetation in a flood zone of the Anderson River Park. Left alone, the region would be prime spawning ground for mosquitoes after spring flooding

"I'd say it's worth the $20," said Tom Schlenker, owner of The Igo Store. "A couple of years ago a neighbor found a dead crow that tested positive for the West Nile Virus. That freaks me out. And a lot of people lost horses out here to the West Nile Virus."

Twenty dollars is the same price tag on mosquito control that Anderson homeowners pay.

Since the West Nile Virus spread to Shasta County in 2004, the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District (SMVCD) has received funding over the past three years from state grants and Shasta County Public Health to provide emergency mosquito control outside of its district.

With state grants now unavailable, the SMVCD has proposed to expand its district to annex Igo, Ono, French Gulch, Lakehead, north to Castella and east to Viola.

District manager William Hazeleur said that a recent survey of 6,600 residents in the areas found overwhelming approval for annexation.

Charging landowners in the proposed annex area $20 per year per house would provide and additional $97,000 of revenue.

Since the SMVCD already has a complete infrastructure, all the funds would be directed towards the chemicals, equipment and personnel protecting the newly proposed annex. A vote by affected landowners is scheduled in May.

If the annex is voted down, the district will cease protecting those areas.

Long before May and its host of mosquitoes arrives, the SMVCD still has plenty of work to do during winter. Although they don't spray pesticide for insects as they would in the summertime, the district performs physical control of prime mosquito habitat.

To the SMVCD, physical control involves clearing brush in flood zones and cutting trails to improve access for summertime pesticide crews.

After the Sacramento River floods the low areas of the Anderson River Park, the isolated pools left over from the flood become prime spawning grounds for mosquitoes.

The SMVCD uses work crews from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for much of its physical control work. At the Anderson River Park, the crew fought back the Himalayan Blackberry bush that would otherwise overrun the area, according to SMVCD operations manager Audi Butcher.

"It's amazing how fast they work," Butcher said of the Sugar Pine work crew, "They cut miles of trails for us every winter. They're busy and in high demand from other agencies: A.C.I.D., Cities of Redding and Anderson and school districts."

Some of the trails they have blazed in the Anderson River Park provide access to the river and become favorite thoroughfares for fishermen and cyclists.

Removing the brush from the area keeps mosquito larvae exposed. After the brush is removed, the SMVCD can spray herbicide to inhibit growth of emergent vegetation, which would provide cover for mosquito larvae from its predators.It's easier to control mosquitoes in their larval stage when they're confined to a small pond, than when they become winged adults with a 1/2 mile radius to roam.

Beyond using pesticides to kill the mosquito in its various stages of growth and using herbicides and physical control methods to eliminate the mosquitoes' habitat, the SMVCD also stocks ponds and quarries with mosquito fish. Because the mosquito fish eats mosquito larvae, the district gives them away to the pubic for free.

"The mosquito fish do a phenomenal amount of work for us," said SMVCD Biologist John Albright.

Albright recommends putting the mosquito fish in ponds, fountains, birdbaths and water troughs. Spawning ground for a mosquito can consist of as little as one cup of standing water.

The mosquito that troubles people the most, however, is not the one that carries the West Nile virus. The mosquito that annoys people the most is the tree hole mosquito, named for its preferred habitat in rotten oak holes, hatches in April. Other than carrying canine heartworms, Albright said that it is not a health risk.

Controlling for this type of mosquito involves Shasta county residents patrolling their own property. Albright recommends using dirt or even aerosol insulation foam to fill up the tree holes.

"It's actually good for the tree, because as rain water collects in the tree holes, they continue to rot and get deeper," Albright said.

"Now is a good time for people to look around their yard for things to fill up. The public has a stake in helping us eliminate the threat. We can't put mosquito fish in people's fountains for them," Albright said. The mosquito that carries the West Nile virus doesn't bother people nearly as much, but breeds in the summertime and prefers birds. Corvids (crows, magpies and scrub jays) are most susceptible to the virus. Hence the dead crow scare in recent years.

Last summer in Redding near Calaboose Creek, a hot spot for dead crows testing positive for the West Nile virus, a crow was observed sitting with its beak open, yet so motionless that it appeared to have died of heat stroke. After a while, it finally began to move again and hopped off.

"There's a 90 percent chance that was West Nile virus," Albright said. "The virus causes encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain, and the bird will appear lethargic, unresponsive, dizzy, and display certain levels of paralysis. West Nile shows us why we're here."

"We've been fortunate last year but Butte County had a bumper crop (of West Nile virus cases)," Deputy Director of Shasta County Public Health Melissa Janulewicz said. "Butte County had 31 human cases and Shasta County only had four."

Janulewicz said that the difference was due to the amount of standing water in rice fields in Butte County. Besides the SMVCD, there are Shasta County mosquito control districts in Burney and the Pine Grove/Fall River areas.

To order free mosquito fish, call the SMVCD at 365-3768.