November 2, 2006

• The mosquito activity is a 1 for most of the city. There are still some adult mosquitoes around the city. Fortunately, this time of year mosquito activity is reduced by cooler temperatures. Peak mosquito activity will be on warm afternoons when temperatures are above 55oF; residents should take precautions to prevent mosquito bites for the next two months.

• Mosquito trapping has ended for this year due to fluctuating temperatures. We trapped 259 CDC trap nights, 105 gravid trap nights, 100 experimental trap nights for a total of 464 trap nights this year. We trapped 31,302 mosquitoes comprised of 24 different mosquito species. A total of 1,832 mosquitoes were sent in 43 pools for virus testing. Only two pools of mosquitoes tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) this season. There were no West Nile Virus (WNV) positive mosquito pools.

• We received 89 mosquito complaint calls this season, well below the three year average of 200 calls per year. This is a significant reduction from previous year when we were averaging 783 calls per year.
• The bulk of complaint calls this year came after tropical storm Ernesto.
• Almost 25% of the calls came from Spray Route 7. Construction activities at the New Port development contributed to the problem, the good news is the new drainage plan for the area will help to eliminate some mosquito breeding habitats as early as 2007.

• City’s mosquito control crew truck fogged 60,076 acres this season. The majority of truck fogging was in response to the 10 inches of rain we received from tropical storm Ernesto.
• New for 2006 was aerial larviciding, 300 acres were treated by helicopter this year. The City hired a contractor to apply granular larvicide on hard to reach mosquito breeding habitats through out the city. Three flights were spaced out this summer with the contractor treating 100 acres each flight.
• The United States Air Force conducted one aerial spray flight spraying around 5,800 acres in Portsmouth including Craney Island.
• For the second year the city and Army Corps of Engineers joint habitat management included the use of aerial herbicide to control exotic vegetation clogging drainage ditches; the city’s portion was approximately 25 acres.
• Crews also worked to clear over 7,600 linear feet of ditch line this summer at the Portsmouth Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill.

• Our outreach activities kicked off with the NEAT summit this spring held at Wilson High School. Other activities we participated in included presentation to the Wise Beach Civic League, manning the mosquito display at the Long Point Block Party and at the Hoffler’s Creek Wildlife Preserve “Bugs and Butterflies Day”. Staff also participated in career days at Churchland Academy and Churchland Elementary Schools.

• This will be a short off season as much of the next month will be tied up with equipment maintenance and winterization.
• Updating mosquito breeding habitat inventories in the Geographic Information System (GIS) as new color aerial photography is scheduled for delivery in December.
• Major drainage projects this winter include restoring drainage flow line of an additional 7,400 – 12,000 linear feet of vegetation clogged ditches at the Portsmouth Landfill.

This is the last issue of “The Buzz” for 2006