An invasive mosquito has been found in Moab. Learn more about the ways we can reduce the spread.
Adult mosquito ULV spraying notifications and other important announcements.
INTEGRATED
MOSQUITO MANAGEMENT
We use a combination of methods including physical, biological, and chemical control.
Integrated Mosquito Management, or IMM, is the American Mosquito Control Association's standard for mosquito control. IMM utilizes a variety of methods to reduce mosquito numbers in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, nontarget organisms, and the environment. The District responds to situations in which there is a demonstrated need based on surveillance data and mapping. Mosquito control methods are then applied in a targeted manner.
Routinely applying mosquito control measures on a set schedule is no longer an acceptable practice.
Instead, the District responds to situations in which there is a DEMONSTRATED NEED based on surveillance data and mapping. Mosquito control methods are then applied in a targeted manner. Our mosquito abatement program is directed at the LARVAL STAGES of mosquitoes. This approach allows us to contain our activities to localized areas and to have a lower impact on the environment. Adult mosquitoes may also be controlled, but this should occur on rare occasions and only as a last resort.
This control policy recognizes that mosquito populations cannot always be eliminated but must be suppressed to tolerable levels for the well-being of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.
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THE MMAD
Follows These Key Strategies
Surveillance + Mapping • Larva and Adult Mosquito Sources
The Moab Mosquito Abatement District’s jurisdictional boundary holds a wide variety of permanent and temporary bodies of water that are breeding sites for mosquitoes. These include ponds left behind by the receding Colorado river, marshes, woodland springs, catch basins, storm drains and ornamental ponds.
The MMAD monitors sites for the abundance of larvae and adult mosquitoes to determine their location, the species present, and how many there are. This surveillance is conducted through site inspections for larvae and adult mosquito trapping. Surveillance also includes laboratory testing to determine if mosquitoes are carrying diseases that affect humans and animals, such as West Nile virus. These data allow us to plan control measures for reducing mosquitoes and to evaluate the effectiveness of past measures.
Physical Control • Through Manipulation of Mosquito Habitats
Often the most effective tool of IMM is source reduction, or physical control. With this strategy, mosquito breeding sites are either eliminated or they are altered to make them unfavorable to mosquitoes. This can be as simple as discarding old tires or buckets, refreshing bird baths at least once a week, and draining or emptying any other standing water. Using hand tools, our field technicians routinely unclog ditches, drains, gutters, and other standing water that could be habitat mosquito larvae. Source reduction can reduce and sometimes eliminate the need for pesticides, making it an effective and economical means of mosquito control.
Chemical Control • Control Larvicides or Adulticides
Certain chemical compounds can be used to control either immature mosquitoes (larvicides) or mature mosquitoes (adulticides). Adulticides are rarely used in the Moab Mosquito Abatement District; nearly all our mosquito control is accomplished by larviciding. The district will fog with adulticide ONLY if mosquito-borne disease is present, and ONLY in those areas where the disease-transmitting mosquitoes are in numbers high enough to be a significant risk to the public.
The application method for adulticides used at MMAD is with an ultra-low volume (ULV) spray. The material is atomized into small droplets and applied at a rate of 1 ounce or less per acre. The MMAD uses a pyrethroid for ULV adulticide truck applications called permethrin. Pyrethroids are a commonly used synthetic form of pyrethrin; a naturally occurring compound isolated from chrysanthemums. It degrades quickly in the environment after an application.
Biological Control • Bacterial Pathogens
The MMAD frequently applies larvicides containing bacterial pathogens to kill mosquitoes. Bacteria that kill mosquitoes include Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), Bacillus sphaericus (Bs), and Saccharopolyspora spinosa (spinosad). All three are naturally occurring soil organisms that are commercially produced as mosquito larvicides.
Bs and Bti produce protein toxins that break down the gut of the mosquito. Both bacteria are extremely mosquito specific and do not affect other aquatic life. Spinosad produces bacterial neurotoxins that bind to nervous system receptors of the mosquito and cause involuntary muscle contractions and death.
Predatory fish are another form of biological control. Although the district does not provide mosquitofish, many property owners stock their own ponds. Bodies of water containing plentiful numbers of fish usually are free of mosquitoes.
Monitoring • Moab Mosquito Project
Due to the presence of the highly invasive and potentially dangerous Aedes aegypti mosquito, The Moab Mosquito Project has been monitoring the presence of this mosquito and seeks to engage and educate the public on how we can eliminate this species together.
Give us a call or fill out a request form and we will get back to you. Just leave your name, contact information so we can get a hold of you, address, and mosquito concerns, issues, or other notes that the District staff should know before visiting your property for an inspection.
INQUIRE
Please reach out if you have any concerns or questions about mosquitoes in your area.