Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control
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Events & Presentations
 
Alamo Rotary Club
Alamo
Wednesday, March 25

Contra Costa County Homeschool Group
Meet the Mosquitoes & tour at Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District
Thursday, March 26

Antioch Delta Rotary Club
Antioch
Wednesday, April 1

Home & Garden Show
Concord
April 10 - April 12

Discovery Bay Earth Day Event
1601 Discovery Bay Blvd.
Discovery Bay
Saturday, April 25
Noon - 4 p.m.

Town of Discovery Bay Board of Directors Meeting
1800 Willow Lake Road
Discovery Bay
Wednesday, May 6
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Open to public

King of the County Barbecue
Martinez
June 20 & 21

Lafayette Art & Wine Festival
Lafayette
September 19 & 20
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact us now to schedule an event or presentation.

 
We speak to groups, associations, school children and business personnel about mosquitoes, ticks, skunks, rats, and yellowjackets. FREE. 

 

For more information, please contact Nola Woods at

925-771-6158  
 

 

Mosquito Control Matters video 

Have you ever seen a mosquito hatch from its egg and grow to a winged adult, morphing from its pupated state and rising majestically from below the water's surface to its top? We didn't think so! 

 

Or how about a visualization of West Nile virus crossing the country in just five short years?

 

Check out our Mosquito Control Matters video. You'll see fantastic mosquito life cycle footage and learn why mosquito control matters in California.

 

Historical.

Fascinating.

Educational.

Call to Action: Forward this newsletter to a friend. 

 

Please help us fight the bite. Tell a friend!    
We STILL Need Your Empty Coffee Cans for our Mosquitofish Program

You recycle, we save tax payers' money, and the fish have safe transportation to your home. Win! Win! Win!

 

This informative video details how to properly apply mosquito repellent to your skin and/or clothing, proper precautions to take, and how to apply these products to children.

  

 
An excellent video courtesy of Bayer that details the importance of mosquito control in your community.


 

 
Learn how our free services pertaining to rats and mice can benefit homeowners in Contra Costa County who have issues with rodents in or around their property. 
 
 
 
Mosquito Bytes 
March 2015
 
 
In California, the talk is all about the weather. Record-breaking spring temperatures have ignited a flurry of vector activity. Rest assured we are here to help with those pesky vector issues, but first, we have some recommendations that might help alleviate the problem before it even gets started. Swift spring action now could mean an easier vector season later.

5 MUST-DO-NOW STEPS TO PREVENT NEW YELLOWJACKET NESTS 

Prevent unwanted nests on your property
Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control Aide Heidi Budge removes an underground yellowjacket nest from a local park


 
Have you heard it? It is the familiar buzz of yellowjackets that are quickly leaving their winter slumber and looking for places to set up new nests. And those underground nests can become colonies that can support, on average, from 1,500 to 15,000 yellowjackets. Now is the time to take a few simple steps to prevent these aggressive wasps from establishing a home on your property and taking the fun out of your spring, summer, and fall activities.

 

1.  Hang yellowjacket traps out now 
Hang traps as far as possible away from your home and any area of your yard that is frequented by people or pets. Use the pheromone insert that is sold with the trap. Once trapped, yellowjackets can't build a nest nearby.

Ground-nesting yellowjackets typically build nests in abandoned rodent holes, near root systems, and other voids in the earth.

Yellowjackets build nests between and under wood piles and fences. Neat and elevated wood piles leave few options for nest sites.

Food and water attract yellowjackets, rodents, skunks and other wild guests.

 

 If yellowjackets have already set up a nest in your yard, their flight to and from the nest can often be observed after sunrise and before sunset. Once you identify the area where you suspect the nest is located, contact the Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District  to receive a free yellowjacket inspection on your property.

 

The Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District treats only ground-nesting yellowjackets (not aerial yellowjackets). A map to the nest location is required for service. Simply place a stick or other marker near the location and then draw a simple map on a piece of paper to illustrate where the nest may be located. If the District employee finds an underground nest, she can treat it, free of charge if in Contra Costa County. Yellowjackets can bite and sting several times and do not die during the process, unlike bees. For more information on the District's program to control ground-nesting yellowjackets, visit our website

MOSQUITOES GET EARLY WAKE-UP CALL  

It's a long way to the official start of summer, but mosquitoes flourish just the same
Mosquito Program Supervisor Sheila Currier stirs absorbent she placed in a tree hole to provide long-term mosquito control

 

It's a long way until Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, but thanks to our warm, dry weather so far in 2015, Contra Costa County residents are already breaking out the t-shirts and shorts while mosquitoes are making their presence known in March rather than May.
 

"Adult mosquitoes are out a good six to eight weeks early," says Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District Mosquito Program Supervisor Sheila Currier.
 

Each spring, Currier and her vector control team visit neighborhood parks to make a preemptive strike against Western tree hole mosquitoes which can transmit canine heartworm disease. These mosquitoes (Aedes sierrensis) typically lay their eggs along the edges of rot holes that can develop in certain species of trees including oak, laurel and eucalyptus. When winter rains fill the holes with water, the eggs begin to develop into young mosquitoes that eventually leave the nest as flying adults in the springtime. District staff fill each hole with an absorbent material that prevents the water from collecting so that the mosquitoes cannot thrive. But much to their surprise this year, District inspectors not only found the larvae of the tree hole mosquitoes developing, they also found the larvae of one of the mosquitoes (Culex tarsalis) capable of transmitting West Nile virus.
 

"The mosquitoes that can transmit West Nile virus typically start showing up in mid-May to early June. To see them in early March was surprising and meant that we had to start checking and treating neglected swimming pools and ponds earlier because they can be primary sources of these mosquitoes," says Currier.
 

Sure enough, District inspectors found backyard sources, including neglected swimming pools with both young and adult mosquitoes with the latter prompting the District's staff to initiate control efforts that usually don't happen until late spring or early summer. 
 

Along the county's coastline, Currier says, another summertime mosquito, saltwater marsh mosquitoes, are already developing as well because the weather has been warm and there has been very little Sierra snowpack to dilute the salinity of brackish coastal water. That means, as long as the salt content remains high, these coastal, day-biting mosquitoes that were plentiful in 2014, may once again begin teeming into coastal communities.
 

California's new proposed water restrictions go into effect in April that may unintentionally help alleviate mosquito sources by restricting landscaping and recreational water usage. With 2015's mosquito season off to such an early start, every water source counts.

WE NEED YOUR USED COFFEE CANS

Mosquitofish eat up to 500 mosquitoes a day


 

VECTOR POTPOURRI

 


We hope you enjoyed this issue of Mosquito Bytes and welcome your comments.

Please contact us with your thoughts, questions, concerns, or ideas for future articles. We always love hearing from you.

Be well!

Enthusiastically,

The Public Affairs Team

Deborah Bass               Nola Woods               Andrew Pierce

Public Affairs Mgr.      Public Affairs Rep.        Public Affairs Rep.

     

 

Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control

155 Mason Circle  *  Concord, CA  94520

925-771-6183

www.ContraCostaMosquito.com

http://twitter.com/CCMosquito

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Protecting Public Health Since 1927