Members of Hillsborough County's Mosquito Management Services team recently made presentations to their peers at the American Mosquito Control Association's 87th Annual Conference.
The presentations highlighted the work that Mosquito Management Services does to control mosquitoes in the county. A County Senior Environmental Scientist delivered a presentation about the County's innovative solar-powered mosquito traps.
BG Counter Traps are solar-powered mosquito traps that provide a snapshot of the mosquito population at specific locations throughout the county at 15-minute intervals. These results help experts develop strategies that identify where to deploy resources to control the mosquito population.
Mosquito Management initially wanted to put traps in 27 communities around the county but had concerns about the security of the traps.
Mosquito Management Services came up with an innovative and cost effective - if unlikely - solution: collapsible metal dog crates. The crates prevent animals and people from tampering with the traps and made it easy for the traps to be transported.
At $250 each, they were far less expensive than the $1,200-per-unit cost for the custom-designed piece to secure the solar traps.
The crate is sturdy, well-built, and fully houses all trap components. The crate also provided moderate security and allows for the installation of traps in places like County facilities or properties, as well as employees' homes.
The crates proved to be so effective that there are now 30 mosquito traps positioned throughout the county to help track mosquito populations.
Members of Mosquito Management Services also showcased Hillsborough County's specialty equipment at a Field Day, including the new right-side spray vehicle, a boom spray truck, the public education and drone trailers, and the sentinel chicken and mosquito fish trucks. In addition to giving two presentations, a project coordinator attended an Education Day and taught local elementary school students about mosquitoes.
The manager of Mosquito Management Services said that learning, sharing, and networking with hundreds of mosquito control professionals from around the world benefits the staff.
The County's Mosquito Management Program is designed to protect residents by monitoring for mosquito-borne illnesses and controlling the pests through biological methods, trapping, elimination of breeding sites, destruction of larvae, and spraying pesticides at street level and from the sky. The sentinel chicken program is also used to monitor for encephalitis viruses in birds before they reach humans.
601 E. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33602