Williston, ND Active Issues

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

RE: Moquitoes in Williston...

Steve Powell · Guru

How much of my $2 is your salary Steve-o?

Cuz your job doesn't pay enough my man.

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

I am compelled to think there is a solution, however I am not willing to just spend millions of dollars a year on this problem, that is simply not feasible. I am with you though Steve, I would certainly be willing to spend up to $10/month if there was some sort of guarantee that it would work. In lieu of a guarantee there is a thing called the sunset clause which we could say we will try this and it will have to be reapproved every two years, that way if it isn't working then the public can always say no. That is just exactly what we are up against right now with the renewal of the 2nd dollar on the June ballot. That sunset clause is there for the public to scrutinize Vector Control and to make sure that we are doing our job.

Just to be clear, we are not asking for $10, we are merely asking the public to take a chance on this new board, and see what we can accomplish with the $2/month that everyone has already been paying, this would not be new money.

Willistonrecguy · Veteran Member

SteveKemp wrote:

they weren't biting so they may have been males-
- Edited by SteveKemp at 15:46, 2008-04-29

I do not know a lot about bugs, but I think I learned some thing new from this site (only the females bite, interesting)

-- Edited by Willistonrecguy at 08:46, 2008-05-09

gundo · Senior Member

Steve Powell wrote:

Steve,
Are there any guarantees that our problem can be solved? I guess what I'm saying is that I'm growing tired of merely maintaining the infestation. I'd rather do whatever it takes to rid the problem...with the exception of dropping napalm.

Seriously though, if there was a way you could guarantee me that we could get rid of most if not all of these pesky critters I'd be willing to give $10 a month for a year or two or even three.

Would this be a possibility?

-- Edited by Steve Powell at 08:22, 2008-05-07

good question, is there a solution? or is it a recurring multimillillion dollar requirement to just "maintain"?

-- Edited by gundo at 06:03, 2008-05-09

gundo · Senior Member

yeah,,, crap, how do you delete a post???? lol dammit.

-- Edited by gundo at 05:58, 2008-05-09

-- Edited by gundo at 05:59, 2008-05-09

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

Shayla, I think you misunderstood what I was saying, 24% is what will be missing from our budget if you don't vote yes on June 10th.

This is a renewal of what is already in place, you will continue to pay $2 per month if everyone votes yes, if everyone votes no then you pay $1 per month and we lose 24% of our budget.

What does $75,000 or 24% represent in our budget? It represents our adulticide program, where we drive in your alleys and streets and spray chemical to kill the adult mosquitoes at night. If you vote no for Vector then that is the program that will be sacrificed.

Shayla, I am not sure where you got the impression that we just study the larva, but you are completely mistaken if that is what you think. We do have a person that identifies and counts mosquitoes, but that person is a very important part of what we do. If we don't count what is out there (or better yet, what is not out there) then how do we know if what we are doing is even effective?

We are interested in bringing in a graduate student to study how we can fight this problem with a limited amount of money, however we will be applying for grant money to help pay for that program. We need some research directed at a finding a cost effective way to control our mosquitoes.

I will repeat what I have been told by mosquito control experts in our area. If we don't at least continue what we are doing now then you will extend the "miserable" season of our terrible mosquitoes. Instead of having a terrible problem from mid to late June through the end of July, we will have a problem from the end of May through the end of August. If you want to improve on that then we need to consider a couple of things, either 1) we need to research a creative method for controlling mosquitoes without spending more money, or 2) we need to throw more money at the problem.

We have what is estimated to be a $2.5 million problem which we treat with $320,000.00. If we chose to try and raise $2.5 million it would cost approximately $32/month or $384/year (those numbers are based on $150,000 raised by the $2/month water bill charge). Considering those numbers we think it is a pretty good investment to get grant money to help pay for a grad student to come in and help us determine a cheaper way to control the little buggers.

We are using technology to help us map all of the sights that are treated which gives us a total number of acres that need to be treated. This is incredibly useful when we need to order chemical because there is no more guessing as to what we need to have to treat the problem. The only variable left is the river level, which determines the number of times we need to treat the river bottoms, which is a wildly variable, variable.

This is a very valuable debate and I hope it continues, we need to know what people are thinking and make sure that people are educated as to what really goes on with Vector Control.

Steve Powell · Guru

Steve,
Are there any guarantees that our problem can be solved? I guess what I'm saying is that I'm growing tired of merely maintaining the infestation. I'd rather do whatever it takes to rid the problem...with the exception of dropping napalm.

Seriously though, if there was a way you could guarantee me that we could get rid of most if not all of these pesky critters I'd be willing to give $10 a month for a year or two or even three.

Would this be a possibility?

-- Edited by Steve Powell at 08:22, 2008-05-07

SKM · Senior Member

-- Edited by SKM at 03:39, 2008-09-02

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

Thanks for looking at the ad Shayla. We have a huge issue coming up in the June 10th primary, you all will be voting whether or not to keep the 2nd dollar on your water bill as it is up for renewal.

Here is what it means to the Williston Vector Control District: the $2/month that all city residents pay adds up to $150,000/year, and if you cut one of those dollars we obviously go down to $75,000/year. Our annual budget is $318,000.00 (I have quoted $333,000 in the past and I was wrong), and $75,000 represents 24% of our budget. I can't put this any more simple than this, we need that money badly. It is amazing what $2/month can buy for us.

Here is what you get for your money:
One Director who works year round but during the summer months is very busy managing the crew, working with the public, and of course, kills mosquitoes. 5-6 Seasonal Field Aides who do dip for larva and treat watersheds with larvacide, due barrier treatments with Tempo, and fog at night (adulticide). 1 Seasonal Mosquito Identification Specialist who sets 7-11 traps then collects, identifies, and counts the adult mosquitoes, and also doubles as a field aid. 5 board members who meet at least once a month but during the busy months may meet as often as every week. You provide 4 pickups, a small utility vehicle, a six wheeled Argo, and a 4 wheeler. We also contract with Aero Spraying Service to apply larvacide to wet lands that are too difficult to treat on foot or in a vehicle.

Just looking at this as a tax payer myself, I think we get a lot for our money.

Here is some more interesting information, the City of Williston raises $150,000 for Vector Control, while the outlying area that is in the district but not in city limits raises $25,000 which is 17% of what the city raises which I believe to be a pretty similar population difference between the city and the outlying area. People within the city pay $2/month on their water bill, while people outside the city limits but in the Vector Control District pay 1 mill which is capped and cannot be exceeded.

We need your support on June 10th, so please support Vector Control by voting yes.

SKM · Senior Member

-- Edited by SKM at 03:38, 2008-09-02

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

We added a public service announcement to the web site, you can view it here:
http://www.williamsnd.com/usrfiles/WillistonIamOne.wmv

Please view it and provide some feedback, we are considering getting it on TV, which as a PSA doesn't cost us any money.

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

Bruce that is funny that you mentioned the bat houses, cause I remember building them in Mr. Hoffer's shop class. That was one of Jackie Stenehjem's ideas. Jackie was one of the original "Bug Busters". Not sure if you guys remember them, but in the late 80's Jackie and a few other ladies got angry and made a difference in our Vector program. They did a ton of research, which Jackie continues to this day, and they got the larvacide program back up and running.

If we can get the high school shop class to start building us bat houses again we will do it. Bats again are not the answer but they are a part of the solution. Bats are probably going to pick a big ol fat moth or dragonfly before they pick a mosquito for a meal, but they do eat mosquitoes so we need to include them in the fight.

-- Edited by SteveKemp at 00:02, 2008-05-01

SKM · Senior Member

-- Edited by SKM at 03:40, 2008-09-02

gundo · Senior Member

we do have mosquitos but, with our climate being that of high desert, they are pretty limited. in colorado springs anyways. out in the woods one has to be lil more cautious with west nile out there

keep up the good fight. i remeber at one time there was ush to get more "bat houses" built, is that a lost cause?

Lonewolf · Senior Member

I agree on the part that the director should be fighting mosquitoes and not the public. Hes got a tough summer ahead of him and my hats off to him to be able to put up with the publics crap.
I remember hearing someone ask what Williston would be like with no vector control. Im sure it would be tons worse than it is now.
Not really looking forward to this summer. I spray my yard, but since I live in Glen Villa, my neighbors don't spray their yards, it doesn't do me very much good.
Im going to screen in my deck asap, at least then I can enjoy the cool evenings outside.

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

Malathion is considered debatable as a carcinogen, my thought is that if it is even in the running, that is too much for me. I won't use it in my yard anymore. Your best bet is to stick with a Tempo or Permethrin of some sort on the spots that the mosquitoes hide. One thing to avoid is spraying flowering plants (while in bloom) because you don't want to adversely affect bees and other beneficials. Bees are on a massive decline and we don't want to affect them any more then we have to.

Bruce, I am happy to hear you have skeeters down there, that way you can feel at home down there too.

The new director is Francis Bosch, we imported him from Aberdeen, SD where he worked for their Vector Control. He brings a lot to the table and we are thankful we were able to find someone to replace David Benth. Losing David Benth was a tremendous loss, David had 19 years of experience and knew our district like the back of his hand, unfortunately he was unfairly beaten up by the public and burned out. The new board is trying to alleviate public pressure on the director by creating a comment line for people to leave messages for the board, not the director, we want the director killing mosquitoes not fighting the public.

-- Edited by SteveKemp at 20:43, 2008-04-29

gundo · Senior Member

there are mosquitos in williston? no j/k. i was explaining to some friends down here in colo spgs how you get very good at the mosquito swat/slap dance up there. i always remember how bad it is when im out doing stuff in the yard after the sun goes behind Pikes peak...

brandyri23 · Veteran Member

Who is the new director? Dont worry Im not one of those who make obscene phone calls. ANd what did you say is wrong with melethyon (sp)?

Steve Powell · Guru

Yikes, the wife being the first to complain about mosquitos? That can't be a good sign. Good luck, my man!!

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

My wife and a friend called me this morning to complain about mosquitoes in West Acres, they weren't biting so they may have been males, so they are out in certain places. I would wait until you see some signs of mosquitoes, at the first sign of them start applying the Tempo or Permethrin, both of which are residual and can last up to 6 weeks but more likely 1-3 weeks.

Spelling on the Permethrin (sorry).

Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid which comes from Chrysanthemum flowers. Plant a lot of Chrysanthemums and help the problem as well!

If you are interested in what these chemicals are all about:
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/mosquitoes/pyrethroids4mosquitoes.htm#pyrethroids

-- Edited by SteveKemp at 15:46, 2008-04-29

SKM · Senior Member

-- Edited by SKM at 03:41, 2008-09-02

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

We currently get 137,500 from the US Corps of Engineers, which is up from $90,000 last year. Those funds are an earmark, care of our Delegation in Washington, so that being said if there is massive reform on earmarks and pork barrel funding we could be in trouble.

I am not aware of any efforts by WVC to enhance the dragonfly population however as we have been told the dragonflies shouldn't be affected by the adulticide spray that has been used in the past few years. The spray that WVC has used in the couple of years is a product called Anvil 10+ 10.

Here are the 3 ways to control mosquitoes in order of effectiveness:
1) Source reduction - remove their habitat and they can't hatch.
2) Larvacide - kill them before they have a chance to bite us.
3) Adulticide - can be considered a loss at this point because they are hard to kill and they are widely dispersed and one strong wind from the southwest or southeast blows them in from the massive river bottoms to the south of town.

Shayla, I have some suggestions but before I make them, let me say this, I am neither pesticide certified, nor am I any kind of expert whatsoever so take my advice for what it is worth. Instead of using malathion consider using Tempo or Permethryn to create a barrier by applying one of those two products to vegitation along the perimeter of your property. Do not waist either one of those products by applying them directly to your lawn. Find where the mosquitoes are hiding during the day and apply the product to those areas, i.e. trees, bushes, and other shaded areas. Our new director would like to try barrier treatments this year, and he will be testing to check its affectiveness.

Here is what we all have to hope for, high water on the river and a slow and steady rise and a slow and steady fall of the June rise. It seems counter intuitive but high water on the lake and river create less habitat for the mosquitoes. What hurts us is the multiple rises and falls we get from large rain events which is what happened last year.

Watch for hatch alerts on the web site, we know from the incredible research that Jackie Stenehjem has done that when the river reaches a certain level we will see a hatch 11-14 days later. At least that way you will know they are coming en masse.

Steve Powell · Guru

SteveKemp wrote:

About 4 months ago I got on the Vector Control Board in Williston, I figured it would be a good way to make a lot of friends, LOL, really I got involved because at the time I got on the board I had a rather simplistic answer to the problem. My thought, which was shared by my brother Rob who also got on the board, was to bring in a few million dragonflies and damselflies and zip bang problem solved, well as many problems go it turns out that there is no zip bang solution because dragonflies and damselflies are pretty expensive, and as we have been educated, are probably a part of the solution but not nearly the end all for mosquitoes. As it turns out one of the most effective ways to control mosquitoes is by larvaciding, and one way you larvacide is with a nifty little bacteria called Bti which creates a toxin that crystallizes in the larva gut which basically causes the gut to explode (fitting end to a mosquito if you ask me). Our Vector Control director and his crew have been exploding the guts of many mosquito larva already, shocking to think that we are already in the beginning of mosquito season. The beauty of Bti is that it is a very selective pesticide in that it only affects mosquitoes, black flies, and a few other pests.

Let's just say this about the task at hand, we are out gunned, under funded and our backs are against a proverbial wall of mosquitoes. We have what has been estimated to be a $2.5 million problem for which we have a budget of $333,000.00. We as a Vector Board are certainly not asking the people of Williston for $2.5 million, we are simply looking for a way to make the biggest impact on our problem with $333,000.00. Some of the research out there is outlined on our web site: http://www.williamsnd.com/DepartmentDisplay.aspx?ID=21 There is very interesting research on bioengineering the Bti gene into algae, a common food of mosquito larva, which would self reproduce and potentially significantly affect the local mosquito population. The other research out there is on how to grow Bti in Coconuts, not because we have coconuts but because maybe we have something to act as a medium much like the coconut to grow our own Bti, perhaps a sugar beet, potato, or wheat dust which has been known to harbor Bti. The bottom line with that type of research is that it allows us to make our own Bti and not have to purchase it, which gets us closer to the $2.5 million without spending the money.

What we need is a person like Kristi Anseth http://www.denverpost.com/styleheadlines/ci_8683145 to give us ideas on how to pursue research on our problem or if we were incredibly fortunate, she may feel compelled to help us in our cause. We need research to help solve our problem, and that research could easily help other areas that suffer from mosquitoes like we do, both nationally and internationally.

We need everyone's help, if you have ideas, post them, if you have question, post them. If you have a comment that you would like the whole board to hear call 577-4563 and leave a message, we will all get the message as an attachment in our email.

Kemper, with everything that you do here in Williston, I'd say you've got coconuts.

Which leads me to an idea, if we all moved to where the coconuts grow, we'd be rid of our mosquito problem. Does napalm kill mosquitos? biggrin

That's some good research you guys have done so far. What kind of funding are you guys receiving from the state? Didn't Dorgan try to get some money our way for this effort?

Lonewolf · Senior Member

I have a new slogan for the area, its called "Tax The Bakken"
Tax big oil for mosquito relief. Im not talking about the hard working people from the area, just the companies they work for.. LOL...

SKM · Senior Member

-- Edited by SKM at 03:33, 2008-09-02

SteveKemp · Veteran Member

About 4 months ago I got on the Vector Control Board in Williston, I figured it would be a good way to make a lot of friends, LOL, really I got involved because at the time I got on the board I had a rather simplistic answer to the problem. My thought, which was shared by my brother Rob who also got on the board, was to bring in a few million dragonflies and damselflies and zip bang problem solved, well as many problems go it turns out that there is no zip bang solution because dragonflies and damselflies are pretty expensive, and as we have been educated, are probably a part of the solution but not nearly the end all for mosquitoes. As it turns out one of the most effective ways to control mosquitoes is by larvaciding, and one way you larvacide is with a nifty little bacteria called Bti which creates a toxin that crystallizes in the larva gut which basically causes the gut to explode (fitting end to a mosquito if you ask me). Our Vector Control director and his crew have been exploding the guts of many mosquito larva already, shocking to think that we are already in the beginning of mosquito season. The beauty of Bti is that it is a very selective pesticide in that it only affects mosquitoes, black flies, and a few other pests.

Let's just say this about the task at hand, we are out gunned, under funded and our backs are against a proverbial wall of mosquitoes. We have what has been estimated to be a $2.5 million problem for which we have a budget of $333,000.00. We as a Vector Board are certainly not asking the people of Williston for $2.5 million, we are simply looking for a way to make the biggest impact on our problem with $333,000.00. Some of the research out there is outlined on our web site: http://www.williamsnd.com/DepartmentDisplay.aspx?ID=21 There is very interesting research on bioengineering the Bti gene into algae, a common food of mosquito larva, which would self reproduce and potentially significantly affect the local mosquito population. The other research out there is on how to grow Bti in Coconuts, not because we have coconuts but because maybe we have something to act as a medium much like the coconut to grow our own Bti, perhaps a sugar beet, potato, or wheat dust which has been known to harbor Bti. The bottom line with that type of research is that it allows us to make our own Bti and not have to purchase it, which gets us closer to the $2.5 million without spending the money.

What we need is a person like Kristi Anseth http://www.denverpost.com/styleheadlines/ci_8683145 to give us ideas on how to pursue research on our problem or if we were incredibly fortunate, she may feel compelled to help us in our cause. We need research to help solve our problem, and that research could easily help other areas that suffer from mosquitoes like we do, both nationally and internationally.

We need everyone's help, if you have ideas, post them, if you have question, post them. If you have a comment that you would like the whole board to hear call 577-4563 and leave a message, we will all get the message as an attachment in our email.