Meeting
with District Manger David Brown on July 5, 2006.
A group of us met with David Brown, Director of
SYMVCD, in the Blanchard
Room of the Library at 8:00 PM on Wednesday, July 5, 2006.
Don Mooney first outlined the history of our
attempts to become more
actively involved in the prevention of the transmission of WNV to
humans. For some background see the meeting announcement in Events. David Brown then gave a PowerPoint
presentation of
different considerations about mosquitoes and their habitat.
He
also brought samples of mosquitoes in three different stages of
development: 1) eggs,
2) larvae, and 3) pupae.
The discussion concentrated on Culex mosquitoes,
since those are the
ones that carry WNV. Culex develop from eggs to adult in 7 to 10
days, depending partially on the weather,
so it is important to drain standing water within a few days and to be
sure that the container or collection area is not refilled. It is
also important to find and treat the mosquitoes at the larval stage,
since
they are no longer feeding at the pupal
stage. At that stage stronger measures must be used, such as oil
films on top of the water to suffocate them. Dave believes that
the biggest problems we have with mosquitoes in urban areas are back
yards (pools, buckets, etc.). Because of this, he noted that
there is quite a bit of educational material on the District's website, which we should call
to people's attention when we can.
The meeting was a productive one, and the main
outcome was that we agreed to focus on some of the bigger problem areas
in Davis. Dave agreed to provide us with
maps and descriptions of these areas. The two main areas they
have
identified are the Arroyo Park area and the Chestnut Park/cemetery
area. They also would like volunteers to distribute door hangers
in several areas: the Wildhorse Golf area, the Alhambra/Mace Ranch Park
area, and the East Side/El Cemonte/El Macero areas.
Look here for
information on how to report standing water or problems after spraying,
should it occur.