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August 21, 2006
More on the West Nile Story
by Anthony Watts
A call to Mosquito Abatement today confirmed that this pond "is" stocked with mosquito fish, like Teichert Ponds.
But, they say there's a problem, some shallow water areas aren't getting the fish into them because of blockage by, yes, you guessed it, low water levels due to the beaver dam.
And, mosquito abatement can't get to some areas because of overgrowth. They also can't dislodge the beaver dam without Fish and Wildlife approval.
The dilemma is this; A man-made drainage pond has now become wildlife habitat due to poor maintenance allowing overgrowth. The pond has also now become a public health nuisance due to modification of the pond by the wildlife allowing mosquitoes to breed outside of normally applied controls, i.e. “mosquito fish�.
So the question becomes; What is more important, solving a public health issue or protecting wildlife in a man-made environment where no wildlife is supposed to be?
Our thanks to Mr. Anthony Watts for his post and special contributions to helping inform the people of our area on this very serious health problem. Hopefully, fish and game will be just as motivated and this situation will soon be resolved in favor of people and not the mosquitoes that could potentially carry West Nile disease.
Posted by Post Scripts at August 21, 2006 07:34 PM