Salt Lake City seeing surge in ‘tree hole' mosquito population

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SALT LAKE CITY — Some residents on the east side of Salt Lake City say they're seeing more of a certain type of mosquito this year than they ever have before. It's called a tree hole mosquito, and mosquito abatement teams have been busy fighting them.

In the dark, thick water, Lindsey James spent Friday afternoon looking for something. "Sometimes there's larvae and all sorts of little bugs and creatures inside," she said.

Lindsey James tests water she collected from a tree hole in Salt Lake City. She's looking for tree hole mosquito larvae.

It's not that she loves finding bugs and creatures. It's just part of her job, to keep residents from being bugged. "(I'm) performing a service to the public," she said.

James works for Salt Lake City's mosquito abatement district, and she says they're very busy this year. It seems the tree hole mosquito is really buzzing around this summer.

"It's a small, black mosquito. It can actually be small enough it can go into the screens of homes," explained Sammie Dickson, manager at Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement.

But if one does, you don't have to worry about West Nile virus or anything like that. Though tree hole mosquitoes like to bite, and bite often, but they're more of a nuisance than a danger to people.

"This mosquito was not even in Salt Lake until 1987," Dickson said. "It was found in a small place up in Weber Canyon. How it got there, we don't know."

What they do know is that the mosquito loves living inside wet trees. With all the rain the Wasatch Front has seen this year, a lot of trees have a lot of water inside them.

To fight back, teams put these briquettes into tree holes.

"We put it in the water and it makes it so the mosquitoes can't mature and become adults and fly around an basically bother people," said Mario Harper, also with Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement.

Teams also take samples from the tree hole water to get an idea of what they're dealing with. It's not James' favorite part. "The tree hole water is really gross," she said. It's really gross. It stinks really bad."

Though the tree hole mosquito isn't dangerous for humans, it can be for dogs because it transmits heartworms. If you notice these bugs in your neighborhood, call your local mosquito abatement district.

Email: acabrero@ksl.com