Air Force Spraying Mosquitos | Video

Evan Kruegel | 6/7/2012

A C-130 Hercules was carpet-bombing North-East of Williston. It`s target: Mosquito Larvae.

"They`re slow to start this year, but they`ll be here. And as far as I`m concerned we`re getting them right at the right time. Because we have done surveillance and there are plenty of mosquito larvae down here," said Williston Vector Control Director Francis Bosch

Campers who are already out at Louis and Clark State Park appreciate the efforts to control mosquito populations whether they`re enjoying the great outdoors or their backyards.

"You could never go in the grass before or even be at the parks without mosquito spray and even then you couldn`t tolerate it," said camper Amanda Eichmann.

The main targets are not rivers, but shallow pools of standing water.

"The immature stages of the Mosquito`s are aquatic, so the areas that we`re targeting are the low land marsh areas that have water that will be available for at least seven days. So if there`s a rain event where puddles will be in existence for at least seven days, those are potential breeding sights for Mosquito`s and those are what were trying to treat," said Captain Kirk D. Mundal, a medical entomologist for the U.S. Air Force.

Last years flooding forced mosquitos to lay their eggs well above the average water line for hatching. If river levels don`t match last years, there may be fewer insects this year.

"I`m hoping that the flood waters have changed things a little bit, tipped the scales in our favor. Regardless though were going to keep the pressure on and do our best to keep the populations down," said Bosch.

Summer is less than two weeks away, and hopefully the efforts of the U.S. Air Force, Vector Control, and Mother Nature, will combine to produce an environment with far fewer mosquitos than in the past.

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