LEWISTON: Mosquito spraying on hold

<table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Mark Scheer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com">mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Niagara Gazette

June 22, 2009 10:25 pm

— A tentative plan to conduct aerial spraying for mosquitoes has been put on hold pending further information from the Niagara County Health Department.
Members of the Town Board on Monday agreed to postpone a decision on aerial spraying until after local officials have had a chance to review data collected under the county’s mosquito surveillance program.
Supervisor Fred Newlin said the board’s decision follows the advice of county Public Health Director Dan Stapleton and representatives from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, both of which said it was important to at least review baseline mosquito data in the area before making any decision on whether to proceed with aerial spraying.
Newlin said the county health department’s biggest concern involving mosquito populations is the presence of the West Nile Virus, adding that the health department has had a documented case of the virus so far this year. Newlin said both the county and the DEC made it clear to him that they do not consider aerial spraying a preferred method for dealing with a pest problem, in part, due to the potential environmental impacts of such activity. Newlin said there are also questions about how effective spraying can be in controlling mosquito populations in a given geographic area.
“The mosquitoes are not going to respect the political bounderies and they are going to come here, I assure you,” Newlin said.
Town officials said they have fielded a higher than usual number of complaints from residents with mosquito concerns this year.
The town’s engineering consultant, John Sharpe, told board members that he has put together a map of areas to be sprayed in the event the board decides to move forward with hiring a company to do the work.