NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Cool spring keeps mosquitoes at bay
itchy problems in the district.
With several relatively warm days
during the second half of May — of
the five days during the month that
topped 70 degrees, four happened in
the second half, including a monthly
maximum of 84 on the 26th — the
workload increased.
“We’ve been pretty busy with
the larviciding the last couple
weeks,” Hutchinson said. “The adult
numbers have been low, but we’re
starting to notice a few with the
warmer weather.”
Although the soggy spring has
increased the amount of submerged
acreage in the district, Hutchinson
said the ongoing drought, with irri-
gation water likely to be in short
supply, could result in a moderate
mosquito population this summer.
Mosquitoes can also breed in
small water sources, including bird-
baths, discarded tires and almost
anything else that can hold water for
sustained periods.
Hutchinson recommended resi-
dents check their property for such
potential breeding spots.
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER COUNTY — Water
and mosquitoes can be a combus-
tible combination, and this spring
has been a decidedly damp one in
Baker County.
But the other element in the
equation — temperature — has not
been favorable for the bloodsuck-
ing bugs, said Matt Hutchinson,
who manages the local tax-funded
district tasked with controlling
mosquitoes.
Although there’s plenty of stand-
ing water around for mosquito eggs
to hatch in and grow into larvae,
the chilly temperatures that have
prevailed for most of April and May
have slowed the insects’ progression
into biting (in the case of females)
adults.
“Mosquito production was a
lot lower when it’s cold like that,”
said Hutchinson, who oversees
the Baker Valley Vector Control
District.
The 200,000-acre district
includes most of Baker, Bowen and
Keating valleys.
The average high temperature
during May was almost 6 degrees
below average at the Baker City
Airport.
April’s average high was nearly 7
degrees cooler than average.
The chilly spring has kept stand-
ing water, whether from rainfall or
from flood irrigation, relatively
cool.
The warmer the water, the faster
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
Standing water serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
mosquitoes move through their
larval stages, Hutchinson said.
Floodwater mosquitoes, which
make up the bulk of the bugs locally
early in the season, laid their eggs
last fall.
Conditions changed rapidly
starting in early April, transition-
ing from an unusually dry start to
the year, Hutchinson said.
“It’s been an interesting spring,”
he said.
Hutchinson and his seasonal staff
spend most of their time during the
spring applying products that kill
mosquito larvae — a process known,
appropriately, as larviciding.
The goal, Hutchinson said, is to
minimize the population of adult
mosquitoes, since they cause all the
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Trapping and testing
In addition to controlling
mosquito numbers, Hutchinson and
his crew maintain a series of traps
across the district — baited with
carbon dioxide, the same gas we
exhale, which is how the bugs find
us.
Hutchinson collects mosquitoes
from those traps regularly and sends
the dead bugs to a testing labora-
tory at Oregon State University in
Corvallis, where the mosquitoes are
tested for West Nile virus.
Mosquitoes can transmit the virus
to people through bites. West Nile
virus has been found in mosquitoes
in Baker County every year in the
past decade except 2018 and 2020.
In 2021, the virus was detected
in 19 batches of mosquitoes trapped
in the Baker Valley Vector Control
District. One person and one horse
were also infected, according to the
Oregon Health Authority.
Hutchinson said he didn’t have
any information about the one
human case.
Most people infected with the
virus have no symptoms, according
to the state health officials, but about
20% will have symptoms such as a
fever, headache, body aches, vomit-
ing, diarrhea or a rash.
In rare cases the virus can be
fatal.
Although floodwater mosqui-
toes tend to be most numerous in
the district early in the summer, a
different species, the culex tarsalis, a
permanent water mosquito, is much
more likely to carry West Nile virus,
Hutchinson said.
When adult mosquito numbers
reach certain thresholds, based on
public reports and trapping totals,
Hutchinson can use both truck-
mounted foggers and aircraft to
spray a pesticide that kills adult
mosquitoes.
More information about the
Vector Control District is available
at www.bvvcd.org/ or by calling
541-523-1151.
PRAIRIE CITY
Sawmill to reopen in early July
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Partly sunny and
pleasant
Some brightening
Cloudy
Cloudy
Breezy with
periods of rain
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
77° 58°
75° 56°
80° 61°
74° 58°
83° 62°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
82° 61°
81° 59°
85° 65°
80° 59°
88° 65°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
71/54
69/55
76/51
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
76/59
Lewiston
76/55
82/63
Astoria
66/53
Pullman
Yakima 78/60
73/51
77/61
Portland
Hermiston
76/57
Salem
The Dalles 82/61
82/57
Corvallis
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
73/56
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
73/53
77/49
75/55
Ontario
79/57
Caldwell
Burns
73°
55°
80°
52°
102° (2016) 41° (1988)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
Eugene
0.04"
0.36"
0.18"
6.15"
2.23"
4.56"
WINDS (in mph)
77/58
74/51
0.01"
1.14"
0.32"
9.80"
4.02"
7.16"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
77/58
73/54
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
Pendleton 70/51
74/54
70/52
71°
53°
76°
51°
103° (1931) 35° (1901)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
72/52
Aberdeen
71/54
74/55
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
73/53
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
77/55
Wed.
ENE 4-8
ENE 6-12
WSW 7-14
W 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
77/45
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:07 a.m.
8:42 p.m.
12:44 p.m.
1:45 a.m.
First
Full
Last
New
June 7
June 14
June 20
June 28
NATIONAL EXTREMES
PRAIRIE CITY — The
parent company of the Prairie
Wood Products sawmill in
Prairie City intends to reopen
the facility in early July and
plans on hiring roughly 50
employees.
The D.R. Johnson Lumber
Co., Prairie Wood’s parent
company, announced in a
press release that the sawmill
will host a job fair at Chester’s
Thriftway in John Day on
Monday and Tuesday, June 13
and 14, from 10:30 a.m. to
6:30 p.m. According to the
press release, the company
is looking to fill a variety of
jobs, from maintenance and
production to management
roles in human resources.
The wages, the press
release states, will be “highly
competitive” with a “robust”
benefits package.
The Prairie City mill was
purchased in 1976 by the
D.R. Johnson Lumber Co.
Two years later, the fami-
ly-owned company added a
stud mill and planer. Then, in
the late 1980s, the company
installed a co-generation
power plant at the Prairie
Richard Hanners/Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie Wood Products sawmill in Prairie City closed in
2008. The company announced it plans to reopen in early
July 2022.
Wood Products mill.
The sawmill, which oper-
ated successfully in Prairie
City for more than 30 years
and employed upwards of
100 people who worked two
different shifts, shuttered in
2008 amid a housing market
crash that led to a lack of
available sawlogs.
D.R. Johnson restarted
the mill in early 2009 but
shut it down permanently
by the end of the year. The
cleanup of the mill, which
sits at the west end of Prai-
rie City, concluded in 2019.
Since then, much of the mill
equipment has remained,
along with the co-gen plant.
In the mill’s heyday, Don
(D.R.) Johnson expanded the
facility’s capacity by adding
a computerized stud mill
in 1981. In the late 1980s,
Johnson followed that up by
installing the co-gen power
plant at the mill.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 110° in Cotulla, Texas Low 29° in Angel Fire, N.M.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Oregon parks commission
to meet in Enterprise
ENTERPRISE — The Oregon State Parks
and Recreation Commission announced
Wednesday, June 1, it will tour local sites and
convene June 14-15 at the Cloverleaf Hall in
Enterprise.
On June 14, commissioners will tour
Wallowa Lake State Park and Iwetemlaykin
State Heritage Site starting at 8 a.m., followed
by a work session and training at Cloverleaf
Hall at the Wallowa County Fairgrounds in
Enterprise.
On June 15, commissioners will convene
an executive session at 8:30 a.m. at the same
location to discuss real estate and legal issues.
Executive sessions are closed to the public.
A business meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m.
and will be open to the public.
Anyone may attend or listen to the busi-
ness meeting; instructions on how to listen
will be posted on the commission web page
prior to the meeting. The business meeting
includes time for informal public comment
related to any items not on the agenda. Regis-
tration is required to speak at the meeting, and
is available online at bit.ly/registerjunecom-
mission. Time per speaker is limited to three
minutes. Written public comments must be
submitted by 5 p.m. June 13 to chris.havel@
oprd.oregon.gov.
The full agenda and supporting documents
are posted on the commission web page at www.
oregon.gov/oprd/CAC/Pages/CAC-oprc.aspx.
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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