City of Winnipeg cankerworm and nuisance mosquito control programs continue

MEDIA RELEASE:

WINNIPEG May 18, 2006 - Favourable weather conditions have allowed the Insect Control Branch to conduct treatment for cankerworm control in the Assiniboine and Kildonan Park, the Fort Rouge, West End, East Kildonan, and St Boniface areas. Monitoring of the treated areas has indicated good control in decreasing the cankerworm population. Within the Fort Rouge area however, higher cankerworm populations continue and as a result, crews will be conducting further treatment over the next few nights.

The Cankerworm Control Program will continue until trees in the areas that have been identified as having high emergence of cankerworms are treated. Ongoing monitoring of the cankerworm population will continue, and based on the results some areas of the city with the highest cankerworm populations may require city crews to conduct further treatments. Weather permitting; the Cankerworm Control Program should be completed within approximately two weeks.

Citizens may register for a buffer zone if they do not wish spraying to be carried out adjacent to their property. Citizens may register by contacting the Insect Control Branch in writing at 3 Grey Street, R2L 1V2, by email at insectcontrol@winnipeg.ca or by fax at 311 and providing the following information:

• Name
• Date
• Address of their principal residence
• Telephone Number

Homeowners are responsible for controlling cankerworms on their own property. They can spray the leaf surface with a biological product such as BTk, which is available at major home and garden centers. Homeowners can also contract this spraying service by referring to the yellow pages under tree service or exterminators.

With respect to nuisance mosquito control, the City’s spring larviciding program has been very successful in controlling spring nuisance mosquitoes. Monitoring of standing water sites continues to indicate low to moderate levels of larval development, with the occasional site having higher levels.

Current larval surveillance data indicates that the first summer species are in a larval stage which is a week or two earlier than normal. This is attributed to an earlier than normal spring and warmer ground temperatures being conducive for summer mosquito larval development. Weather dependent, a small to medium emergence of the first generation of adult summer nuisance mosquitoes is expected in the next few weeks. Insect Control larviciding crews will continue with our aggressive larviciding program to keep larval development to a minimum.

The Insect Control Branch continues to monitor the 24 New Jersey Light Traps for nuisance mosquitoes and the daily average is posted on the website. For the month of May, trap counts are collected three times per week with yesterday’s average trap count at 0.

It is important to note that, nuisance mosquito trap counts are only one of the factors which make up the City of Winnipeg’s Adulticiding Factor Analysis (AFA) Level. The AFA Level consists of a range of factors that are considered in determining the appropriate control measure to be implemented for nuisance mosquitoes. Information on nuisance mosquito trap counts as well as other AFA factors are available at Winnipeg.ca/bugline.

Property owners are encouraged to help “Fight the Bite” by taking any one of the following steps to eliminate standing water on their properties:
Dump It! - containers
Drain It! - eavestroughing or unused containers
Cover It! - rain water collection containers
Fill It! - low-lying areas
Treat It! - biological larvicide

Interested individuals may acquire more information by contacting the City’s Bugline at 311, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or by visiting the City’s Insect Control website at Winnipeg.ca/bugline.