Animas Mosquito Control, So Far

   Hello all! Apologies on the belated nature of this blog post, I was unaware of certain temporal expectations for these entries. However, there has been plenty to report on! I have been operating as a field technician down here in Durango, which has been equal parts illuminating and alarming. It has been illuminating in that I have learned so much of what transpires behind the scenes for the well-being of the public; a tremendous amount of labor and resources is dedicated towards the preservation of the district's health. However, it has been alarming because I now understand exactly how critical mosquito management is, particularly in an area like the Animas River Valley that is prone to flooding and sports an impressive number of sloughs. Attached is a photo of a dip from a recent field day; safe to say, we have them bad down here (this may not seem like a catastrophic dip, but by my limited frame of reference this is significant).

We have been embarking out into the depths of the sloughs on Argos, which are essentially 8-wheeled ATVs. The off-road capability of these vehicles is astounding. We have been employing them to reach areas that are too dense in vegetation to reach on foot, as well as areas that are simply to far removed to reach in any timely manner without use of a vehicle. We have both granule blowers and mineral oil sprayers mounted to the rear of the Argos, for ease of treatment.

I'll leave it there for now, but I can say with assurance that the remainder of this summer is going to be an interesting one!

- Jack