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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2018)
OFF PAGE ONE Saturday, July 21, 2018 East Oregonian Page 9A Mosquito control is a constant fight Crew focuses on killing larvae By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Responding to the sound of chopper blades, the five men looked toward the sun and the silhouette of small helicopter heading their way. The order of the day, as it is almost every summer day for them, was mosquito control. Four of the men — Andrew Ross, Dalton Hughes, Mark Wilkerson and Rylie Smith — work as mosquito control tech- nicians for the West Uma- tilla Mosquito Control Dis- trict, based in Hermiston. The other, Dan Long, is an employee of South County Helicopter. The helicopter landed next to a cone-shaped bucket to be hooked to the chopper’s belly by a trio of cables. In the bed of a nearby pickup truck, bags of VectoBac sat ready for load- ing into the bucket. The helicopter would spray nearby water bodies to kill developing mosquito larvae. Wearing dust masks, they hauled 10 of the bags to the bucket and dumped them in. Pilot Cliff Hoeft took off and flew a short way to the Power City Wildlife Area, where he made a pass, releasing his load of granu- lar larvicide. Before day’s end, Hoeft would treat water bodies in multiple locations, including Cold Springs, Stanfield/Echo Meadows and the Irrigon Wildlife Area. Combating mosquitoes by air is only one method. More often, the attack is by ground. These men spend many of their workdays trudg- ing through swampy areas in hip waders or riding four-wheelers to spray with the aid of backpack hoppers. It’s hot, humid work. “We get up at 5 a.m. and get to work early to beat the heat,” Ross said. Thwarting West Nile virus is one of the WUMCD’s aims, said Ross, the crew’s field supervisor. The crew detected the mos- quito-borne virus in three samples collected along the south bank of the Cold Springs Reservoir earlier this summer. The weapon of choice at the moment is a granu- lar formulation of a bacteria called Bacillus thuringien- sis, or Bti. “It’s a naturally occur- ring bacteria found in the soil,” Ross said. “The mos- quitoes ingest it and it crys- talizes in their gut.” The mosquitoes stop eat- ing and eventually die. Some could say such attempts to crack down on the millions of mosquitoes in the area is like trying to empty the ocean a bucket at a time. Ross has heard this before but says target- ing the worst areas keeps them at bay. He recalls con- versations with old-timers from the area who remem- ber mosquitoes making their lives miserable in years past. “They talk about going to a football game and being covered by them,” Ross said. Randy Gerard, manager of the mosquito control dis- trict, said the district has identified 13 different spe- cies over the years. He said surveillance is a huge part of what the district does. “No spraying of any kind is done without surveil- lance,” Gerard said. “There are roughly 600 sites that I know of.” Workers trap adult mos- quitoes to identify species and gauge how well they are doing. They test for West Nile. Most of their focus, however, is on the larvae. With less hatching, there’s less chance of disease spreading. “The whole goal is to control mosquitoes from hatching out of the water,” Gerard said. “It’s a constant fight.” ____________ Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0810. MOSQUITO: Species have been around over 100 million years Continued from 1A Snakes kill 50,000. Humans murder around 425,000. The mosquito stood alone in its lethality. “About 725,000 deaths a year can be attributed to mos- quitoes worldwide,” McK- eon said. The mosquitoes transmit- ting all those viruses and dis- eases aren’t found only in dis- tant Africa or South America, McKeon said. They already live right here in the United States. “There are 3,500 dif- ferent species of mosqui- toes,” McKeon said. “They span all seven continents. There are mosquitoes that live in Antarctica. They are everywhere.” She ticked off the names of the three main types of mosquitoes on the planet — Culex, Aedes and Anoph- eles — and said all reside here. The Culex is brown and bland — the unshowy, girl-next-door mosquito. Aedes mosquitoes, such as the Asian tiger mosquito, are black with white stripes. The Anopheles, the type that transmits malaria, is black and sleek with knee-high white stockings. So why isn’t the U.S. swamped by deadly mosqui- to-borne diseases? “What’s really hold- ing back the diseases is that pathogens need a certain tem- perature to transmit,” McK- eon said. She said mosquitoes can go full-throttle in places where the temperature is 84 degrees and higher year- A ground crew at the West Umatilla Mosquito Control District fills a aerial application bucket system with the larvicide VectoBac G on Thursday in Hermiston. Staff photos by E.J. Harris A helicopter is used to disperse the larvicide VectoBac G over wetlands in the Power City Wildlife Area to control mosquito populations on Thursday north of Hermiston. The helicopter is contracted by the West Umatilla Mosquito Control District. round like the tropics. As long as we continue to have sea- sons, mosquitoes will die off and new uninfected batches will emerge, she said. But if we become like the tropics, then there will be no die-off. “Lets flash forward 60 years from now,” McKeon said. “If our climate estimates go as predicted. By 2080, it’ll be 84 degrees almost year- round (in much of the U.S). This will be the new tropics. Oregon will have pockets.” Oddly, malaria has visited us before. McKeon flashed on the screen a photo of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. “This was not built to be the CDC,” she said. “It was built (in 1942) to be the Office of Malaria Control.” The office was placed in Atlanta rather than Wash- ington, D.C., because the South had the most malaria problems. The National Malaria Eradication Program sprayed, drained mosquito breeding sites and used other methods to eliminate malaria from the country by 1949. It will likely return as global temperatures rise. Ticks are already spread- ing farther north and McK- eon attributes that to longer, warmer springs that lengthen summer, giving ticks an increased chance of survival going into winter. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is transmitted by cer- tain ticks, was diagnosed this summer in Morrow County. McKeon isn’t all gloom and doom. She hopes man- kind will find a way to com- bat climate change. There are ways to control mosquitoes and the arsenal is growing. One promising method is the sterile insect tech- nique. The idea is to release irradiated male mosquitoes. After mating with them, the females lay sterile eggs. It takes a lot of energy for mos- quitoes to mate and they have to wait a month to build up enough energy for another attempt. The population slowly decreases. McKeon doesn’t believe mosquitoes should be totally obliterated from the face of the earth, even if it was possible. “Do we really want to eradicate them?” she asked. “They are an integral part of several ecological food chains. What about the birds and fish that feed on them? We would be taking away a major source of protein for them.” But the point is moot. “Mosquitoes have always been around,” McKeon said. “Mosquitoes are older than we are. They’ve been around over 100 million years. The numbers are rising. We hav- en’t controlled them and we haven’t figured out how to live in harmony with them just yet.” ____________ Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0810. Thank you to Hermiston High School’s Project Graduation Celebration Sponsors & Donors 60 Minute Photo Elmer’s Irrigation Park Terrace Townhouses A.S.A.P Flying Service, Inc. Girth Dog, LLC Pioneer Title Insurance Co. Advanced Pediatric Dentistry Gordon’s Electric, Inc. Rock, Inc. HB Boys - Burger King Shelco Aff ordable Family Eye Wear Hendon Construction Shellie Rysdam AJ’s Printed Apparel Hermiston Generating Solid Waste Disposal Anderson Hansell Attorneys Hermiston Herald Ann and Dean Fialka Hermiston School District Sorbenots Barak and Associates Janna Coleman Stratton Insurance Services Barnett & Moro Jason Bartman Subway-Hermiston Bellinger’s Jenny Miller Suds Yer Duds Big River Golf Course Karen Bounds Tania Hoeft BI-MART Marlette Homes-Hermiston Walmart DC Burns Mortuary McLaughlin Landscaping Wells Family Calpine Midway Tavern Wheatland Insurance Starvation Ridge Farms T H I S IS M O RE T H A N A KIDNEY A) This is the gift that allowed Cal Mitchell of Gresham, Oregon to see his great-grandchildren being born. B) This is freedom for him to tend to his garden and host family Cindy and Jason Middleton Mr. Insulation Community Bank NW Farm Credit Services barbeques. C) This is the chance for Cal to spend retirement Devon Oil Co, Inc. NW Metal Fabricators generosity of a stranger whose donation saved Cal’s life. Dynamic Computer Consulting Inc. O So Kleen East Oregonian with his beloved wife of over 50 years, Marva. D) This is the Oregon Trail Veterinary Clinic ... and to all the parents and other individuals who donated time, money and/or supplies to help make our party a huge success we say, “ THANK YOU!” HHS Project Graduation Committee & HHS Class of 2018 Register today to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. Visit DonateLifeNW.org
