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Who We Are and What We Do
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The Placer Mosquito and Vector Control District is a special district that serves all of Placer County.
Our mosquito technicians are certified by the State of California Health Services
in pesticide usage, mosquito and vector identification. We conduct constant
surveillance to locate mosquito breeding sources and to solve mosquito problems
using physical, biological and chemical means along with public education.
Sources such as creeks, wetlands, vernal pools and other naturally-occurring
habitats, along with man-made sources are inspected the District for mosquito
production. Agricultural, industrial, and residential sources are also routinely
inspected and treated as needed.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) baited traps, gravid traps, and New Jersey light traps, and
resting boxes are used to collect adult mosquitoes. Sentinel chicken flocks are
placed throughout the District and tested every other week from April thru October
to detect the local transmission of mosquito-borne diseases such as Western equine
encephalitis (WEE), West Nile (WN), and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses.
The objectives of our program are to control or eliminate existing mosquito breeding
sources and to prevent new ones to protect public health and comfort. This is not
going to be a quick or easy process, it will take several years of hard work before
residents will notice any consistent significant reduction of the mosquito problems
in the area, due mainly to the magnitude of the breeding sources in the agricultural
areas of the District, along with problem areas that impact us but are out of our
jurisdiction, and have little or no mosquito control at this time. We are also working
closely with the pesticide manufacturers to help us with developing material formulations
that will improve mosquito control in the problem areas.
The materials we use to control the mosquito larvae and adults are the safest and
least toxic materials available for public health mosquito control. Larvicides are
used to kill mosquito larvae. Larvicides include biological insecticides, such as
Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (B.t.i.) and Bacillus sphaericus which are
naturally-occurring bacteria. Only mosquitoes, black flies and some midges are
susceptible. Other aquatic invertebrates and non-target insects are unaffected
by these products. Larviciding oils and monomolecular films (MMFs) are used to
drown mosquito larvae and pupae in their later aquatic stages when they do not
feed by forming a thin coating on the surface of the water. Methoprene is an insect
growth regulator which is a target specific material that does not harm mammals,
waterfowl, or beneficial predatory insects. The District uses pyrethrins and
pyrethroids for our adult mosquito control program. Pyrethrins are insecticides
that are derived from the extract of chrysanthemum flowers and pyrethroids are
synthetic forms of pyrethrins. These are generally applied as an ultra-low volume
(ULV) mist by truck mounted or hand-held foggers in populated areas and by aircraft
over the agricultural areas of the District.
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