Apparently, this year however is worse then any other. We've had local news stations and newspapers out reporting this unusual case of mosquito outbreak. How bad is it? One paper referred to the invasion as in "biblical proportions". To give you an idea of how bad it is, the closest city is 30 minutes away and the local mosquito traps there will catch a good several hundred mosquitoes. Our town's traps catch approximately 10,000.
They really have no idea why the sudden leap this year or exactly where they are coming from, but they are putting the blame on the woods and wetlands north of the town. Particularly a huge lagoon that reportedly has absolutely no life other than mosquitoes. No fish, no ducks, no frogs, no nothing. In the photo below is a satelitte image of the area. All of the wetland including the lagoon is stagnant water.
Dealing with those critters is already a full-time exhausting job. My family and I are covered in welts. We do what we can to keep them at bay, and there are days that are good and there are days that are bad. If they drain the lagoon and the mosquitoes relocate to the swamp, we may have to consider moving. It's not something we would want to do as we love our country property. But unfortunately the mosquitoes put a damper on our enjoyment of it. By forcing the mosquitoes out of their home, they may be forcing us out of ours.
However, I suppose a town of 1600 plus people is more important than a handful of farmers. I don't have a solution for them next to creating some type of water flow or filling the lagoon with mosquito loving critters. I know the swamp is swarming with frogs---an orchestra of them serenate me every night. They are more then welcome to drain the swamp if it will force the frogs eastward toward the lagoon. But sadly I do believe the swamp is privately owned. (Who would want to own all that wetland?) I'm going to go to the meeting and hear all the suggestions and hopefully someone will come up with something that is beneficial to us all. One thing we do agree on is that the mosquitoes are a health risk that need to be stopped. Let's just hope we come up with a solution that is ideal for everyone.