Taking Aim at Mosquitoes Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Mosquitoes are kind of a fair weather fact of life but while they are annoying they can carry disease for not only livestock but people as well. Outdoor workers in areas where there is standing water can be at risk according to Representative David Taylor from Moxee.

TAYLOR: On the issue of nuisance versus the vector mosquitoes we’ve been told it can take about 28 hours to identify whether or not there are vector mosquitoes, disease carrying mosquitoes. While that’s longer than at the peak of season, the life cycle of a mosquito. So we could have West Nile virus throughout a particular area and before we would actually have the ok to go and spray for those it would already have gone through the reproduction process and we’d have an even bigger problem.

Taylor and a group of legislators sent a letter to the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) expressing concerns about language in a proposed update to the state’s mosquito control permit. The legislators also called on the department to extend the public comment process on the proposal.

TAYLOR: One public hearing in Moses Lake in our opinion is less than a truthful attempt at complying with the administrative procedures act and public involvement process. We’ve requested that they extend the comment period 30 days and hold additional meetings in the Okanagan area, Spokane, Yakima, Ellensburg, Tri-Cities, Bellingham; areas where we have known potential problems with mosquitoes.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.