Mosquito Abatement crews don't like what they are finding in the wetlands of northwest Salt Lake City. In a half-pint dipper --- about a hundred mosquito larvae -- that translates into about 5 million mosquitos from just one acre of land.
Sam Dickson, Ph.D, works at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. He says, "We've been predicting it all year. We're going to have it bad, they say, it hasn't come yet -- well it's coming."
Mosquito abatement crews have literally hundreds of acres like this where they'll come weekly to distribute the bacteria to get rid of the mosquito larvae.
The bacteria is environmentally safe and kills the larvae within 24 hours. But, while a mosquito's life span is only three weeks, it can lay some 600 eggs, so it's tough to treat all breeding areas.
Dickson says, "Even though we treat a lot of mosquitos, when you've got a few billion out there... even if you get 99% of them, you know you still have a few million left."
Abatement crews have about 40 traps across the valley to monitor mosquitos, and workers daily count and record what they find. While most originate in wetlands, some breed in back yard containers, pools, or gutters.
To help reduce the blood-sucking insects remove any stagnant water. City and county abatement districts want you to report areas where there are unusually high numbers of mosquitos. This summer, they expect a lot of reports.
"As soon as it warms up, we are going to have a lot of mosquitos... a lot more than people are used to."
Another type of mosquito, the western tree hole mosquito, breeds in the holes of mature trees. That kind of mosquito carries the dangerous dog heartworm. Reports of dog heartworm have doubled each year in Utah and veterinarians expect more than a hundred dogs to contract the disease this summer.