The Columbine Valley Mosquito Control Program is one of the few full-on Integrated Mosquito Management (IMM) programs in the south metro region. The Town’s program has three main components: weekly larval site inspections, weekly surveillance traps – used to collect, count and speciate adult mosquitoes, and as-needed truck fogging determined by trap counts designed to control adult mosquito activity. Taken together these represent an extremely proactive approach to mosquito control.
The Town does not engage in calendar or automatic weekly fogging and relies almost exclusively on the data the surveillance traps collects. When fogging is appropriate, the Town only fogs late in the evening or at night, and when it is not windy, which helps control where the adulticide is distributed helping protect, among other things bees and aquatic life in the nearby Platte River.
So what should residents do on nights when fogging occurs, that’s totally up to them. Obviously don’t position yourself directly behind the truck as it fogs. It is safe to remain outside when fogging occurs, but individuals may choose to go inside and batten down the hatches; this decision depends on personal sensitivities. In any case, all remnants from the fog trucks should be undetectable within a few minutes of the truck passing by.
The Zika Virus was prevalent in the news and some citizens contacted the Town with questions. Most importantly, the main Zika vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is not found in Colorado as we do not have the climate suitable for sustaining that species, which is found predominantly in the tropics and subtropics. The same is true for the secondary vector species, Aedes albopictus. Therefore Zika will not be transmitted to anyone here in Colorado via a mosquito.
If you would like to learn more, please visit VDCI which is packed with useful mosquito related information. Residents can also contact Vector Disease Control at 303-428-5908 to be placed on a call list which notifies residents when spraying will occur in Columbine Valley.