LAKE COUNTY >> Along with homes, livelihoods, and businesses, the ecology of Lake County’s forests were drastically affected by the summer’s fires.
It will take a long time for the animals and plants in that habitant to return to levels before the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley Fires erupted; some may never return.
Yet, one species has come back and, to Lake County Vector Control District’s surprise and concern, begun to thrive. According to District Manager Jamesina Scott, mosquitoes have recolonized the burn area. This has the potential to become an exacerbated nuisance and a potential health risk.
Due to abandoned water sources on burned properties, Scott said, the Middletown/Cobb area has become “breeding ground” for Lake County’s 24 different types of the blood sucking insects. From random buckets containing water to unattended swimming pools and even small puddles, many water sources can be places for mosquito larvae to grow, potentially boosting their populations into the environment.
At this point, the impacts are speculative and just like other county departments are discovering, predictive outcome data doesn’t exist because this fire was unprecedented.
“There’s nothing available,” Scott said. “We don’t have experience dealing with mosquitos after a wildfire.”
One thing is certain: things are going to get wetter. When the predicted El Niño season does strike, the number of standing water sources will grow, creating more places for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
According to Vector Control’s website, any container that has held water for a week could be a “suitable habitat for a female to lay her eggs.”
If uncontrolled, Scott said, the increased insect population can increase the threat to public health. To her, the main concern is the West Nile Virus, which has been “established as a part of the ecology.”
She told the Record-Bee that seven human cases of the disease have been reported in the county since 2004, with two occurring in 2015 alone. The cases were non-fatal but there have been reports of dead birds and sentinel chickens.
People’s dogs could also be at greater risk as mosquitoes carry heartworm that affects their circulatory systems.
Other effects on the local food chain are unknown, but other animals such as bats and dragonflies eat the insect.
Of course, mosquitoes become very inactive during the cold months, so these effects may not occur until summertime. Scott’s team is taking advantage of that time by removing potential water sources, which is not new to them.
“We already have a large mosquito population,” Vector Control Technician Sandi Courcier said. “You just deal with things as they come.”
The removal of the spots is free to residents and there are a variety of tools that the team can use. Their main one, along with environmentally-friendly pesticides, is using mosquito fish, which Scott said has been a control device for nearly 100 years.
The fish, which is related to the guppy and only grows up to seven centimeters, has a diet consisting of mosquito larvae and other small invertebrates. In fact, Vector control raises mosquito fish and puts them in large still-water sources like artificial ponds and unattended pools. They are also without charge.
“They can contact us and we can put products out there,” Scott said. “All they have to do is just call.”
