The kids at Denver’s Bluff Lake Nature Center’s summer camp can confirm that mosquito season is upon us.
Bluff Lake executive director Jeff Lamontagne said campers who reported for their first day of the session Monday got a few mosquito bites along with their nature lessons.
With four bodies of water on site, the insects are no surprise, Lamontagne said. Although he said the mosquitoes are not overwhelming yet, he knows it’s that time of year.
“This last week, we’ve gone from zero mosquitoes to some,” he said. “They’re starting to come.”
Colorado begins testing for West Nile virus this week, and Denver is beginning mosquito trapping next week, said Elizabeth Babcock, manager of air, water and climate with the city and county of Denver.
Denver participates in a preventive mosquito-management program that targets “problem areas” within the city and intends to kill the insect’s eggs before they hatch, Babcock said.
“Being proactive is the most effective way,”she said.
Leah Colton, veterinary expert at Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said with the recent rainfall and warmer temperatures, the insects should be making an appearance as long as more rainfall does not wash eggs away.
Colton said water and temperature work together to bring about mosquitoes, so the heavy rains in the past few weeks do not necessarily indicate a heavier mosquito population.
Depending on the type of mosquito, Colton said the eggs are either deposited directly on or at the edge of a water surface, waiting for the moisture to rise and stimulate hatching.
As people’s limbs get covered with itchy bites, the question often arises whether some humans are more tantalizing prey to mosquitoes than others. Colton confirmed that there is some small truth to that.
Citing the way people smell, their chemical makeup and maybe even genetics, she said there could be a few reasons why some are more susceptible to the pests, although no one reason is confirmed.
To prevent scratching all summer long, Colton said mosquito repellant is the best protection as long as it is reapplied as needed.
Babcock encourages Denver residents who notice large areas of standing water or great mosquito concentrations to call 311 and report the information with as much detail as possible.
Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or
