The third quarter of 2012, which encompasses the bulk of the mosquito treatment season, surely had its extremes. A mostly hot, dry June and July gave way to record rainfall that fell from August 8-10 that produced a bumper crop of Aedes vexans by the end of August – just in time for the Labor Day weekend! Phones were ringing off the hook beginning August 27 with a record 315 phone calls received from Bay County residents reporting large mosquito populations. The following day saw 237 phone calls logged; calls continued over the next two weeks, but the number of calls continued to gradually drop. September saw very little rain coupled with cooler temperatures, so the season ended without much fanfare! The last official treatment day was September 26; clean-up activities took place during the final week of the month.

Our second annual scrap tire drive was held September 29 designed to rid the county of thousands of breeding habitats. Nearly 1,000 tires were collected from Bay County residents.

Disease surveillance efforts continued through September. Two hundred eighty-three pools (or groups of mosquitoes) were assembled with 5,495 total females (mainly Coquillettidia perturbans and Culex mosquitoes). These were mosquitoes that were collected in either CDC traps, New Jersey light traps, or gravid traps. Last year we saw a small resurgence of disease activity in Bay County and statewide, but West Nile Virus was detected at even higher levels in 2012. Five mosquito samples from 5 unique locations as well as 6 birds (5 American Crows and 1 Blue Jay) tested positive for West Nile Virus. The mosquito samples were reported from Bangor Township (2), Pinconning Township, Auburn, and Bay City east. The birds were discovered in Hampton Township, Frankenlust Township, Bay City (both east and west sides), Bangor Township, and Kawkawlin Township. There are still thirty-one mosquito samples at Michigan State University whose results are pending.

Two new four-wheel drive trucks were purchased from Garber Chevrolet in Midland. They arrived too late to be put into the rotation for the 2012 season, but are currently being equipped for next season.

As with much of the State, Midland County dealt with West Nile virus again this summer. We had several dead crows and a few positive mosquito pools show up at the end of July. After an aggressive response including catch basin treatment, ULV adulticiding in the vicinity of any positive samples, public awareness announcements and continued surveillance, virus isolations declined steadily over the month of August. Thankfully, no human cases were reported from Midland County.

In addition to the West Nile virus concerns, July and August rains produced healthy waves of floodwater mosquitoes, especially in the southeast quadrant of Midland County. After a very quiet spring and early summer, everyone from the office staff to the field crews to the supervisors had to make a rapid transition to full-speed operations. Mosquito control field operations have now been completed for the year, though. Supervisory staff and our new mechanic, Dave Taylor, are in the process of repair, maintenance and winterization of equipment and facilities.

Save the Dates! We look forward to seeing you all at the Michigan Mosquito Control Association Conference February 6 & 7 in Bay City. The American Mosquito Control Association’s 2013 conference will be held in Atlantic City, NJ February 24 - 28.

 Have a great winter all.

For most of the summer weather conditions were hot and dry. Conditions changed in late summer with significant rainfall making this the wettest August since our program was started in 1977. A large brood of floodwater mosquitoes started making their presence known on August 24th. Unfortunately, this hatch coincided with much of our seasonal staff returning to college which presented us with some unique staffing challenges. Mosquito populations had significantly declined by late September and our mosquito control activities officially ended on September 25th.

It has been a very active year for West Nile virus activity in Michigan; however in Saginaw we only had West Nile detections in 6 mosquito pools and 4 crows. Two of the mosquito detections were on the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge which should make this year’s permitting process go smoothly.

It should be noted that this summer we collected quite a few Cx. erraticus adult mosquitoes. Typically, the northern edge of this species’ range is the southern border of Michigan. Time will tell if this species will become a common collection in our mosquito traps.

After some modifications we were able to successfully install the hardware of our Automatic Vehicle Location system into one of the mopeds we use for catch basin larviciding. This allowed us to not only monitor the moped but also provide coordinates for all catch basin applications that can be used in future mapping projects.

It was a busy summer for our Education Department, along with the regular summer events at the county parks and Children’s Zoo; they also attended an event at the Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum, Consumers Family Day, a Safety Day sponsored by Old Navy, and the Saginaw County Fair. Now that school has started, we are back working in local schools and already have 52 classroom presentations scheduled.

This summer our tire collection program ran from May 1 – August 31; a total of 12,422 tires were recycled this year. Due to funding cuts from the Saginaw Solid Waste Committee we reduced staffing for tire collection from 4 to 2 and also stopped accepting tires earlier this year by ending the program in August vs. the end of September as in past years. We also hosted an e-waste recycling day on September 12th in cooperation with the Saginaw County Dept. of Public Health and the Mid Michigan Waste Authority.

At this time, we are putting the finishing touches on another season. Equipment is being stored, inventories performed, and data collected and reviewed. In response to heightened arbovirus activity, our trucks were on the roads until September 28. Owing to some heavy rains in August, we also had some late hatches of nuisance mosquitoes to deal with.

Our disease surveillance produced two positive (WNV) mosquito pools. In-house testing of birds discovered no evidence of infection. Statewide, WNV human cases reached levels not seen since 2002. Even though mosquito populations were lower than normal for most of the summer, this pronounced level of arbovirus amplification kept us alert.

Rainfall totals were, once again, well below normal. Outside of that aforementioned event, this kept things fairly quiet. Not what we feared would be the case when pupae were being found before our seasonal staff had reported. Now, however, a sense of calm is returning. Very soon, the 2013 season will occupy our thoughts, and the cycle will renew.