Mosquito treatment season started early, ended late this year in South Okanagan and Similkameen

PENTICTON – Weather was a big problem for this year’s regional district mosquito control program in the South Okanagan and Similkameen.

This year’s program was a challenge, more so than other years, mainly due to weather issues. As a result, the season lasted four weeks longer than normal, starting in April and finishing in September.

Program director Cindy Boehm, along with projects coordinator Zoe Kirk, presented a report of the year’s activities to the regional board today, Dec.1, at the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board meeting.

They identified new areas of concern and explained the program had to deal with property issues and on-site hazards. Concerns about the Zika virus also added to the workload as residents made more inquiries to the program to express their concerns.

Mosquito control in the regional district consisted of a total of 159.16 hectares of land in the regional district, using 85.6 minutes of helicopter time and 125.25 hours of manual labour to spray 1,591.66 kilograms of larvacide, according to the report.

The report also noted the possibility of adding additional staff next year, should similar weather conditions persist in 2017, noting the program has discovered an additional 10 per cent worth of sites to treat.

Other problems hindering the program this year included an inability to treat nature conservancy-held land in the region, and a failure by some private property owners to maintain their own properties, the report said.

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