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Bay County Mosquito Control is gearing up for the spring aerial treatment season, with Bti already delivered and staff monitoring woodlots for early activity. As usual, it’s a bit of a waiting game as we watch how water levels and temperatures shape up to determine when and where treatments will occur. This careful monitoring helps ensure we’re as effective and efficient as possible.
At the same time, our staff is continuing to roll out new technology and improvements. We’re building on our use of FieldSeeker Core with continued customizations to the system, adding two new surveillance drones to help map and visualize mosquito habitats, and all Field Supervisors are now FAA Part 107 certified to operate them. A re-design of the Bay County website is also on the way, which will now include an online service request submission for residents using Survey123. Staff also recently attended the AMCA conference in Portland, Oregon, and are looking forward to putting some of those new ideas into action this season. Wishing you all a safe and successful season ahead! Rebecca Brandt, Manager |
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“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” --Socrates
The 2026 season hits Midland County with a plethora of change. Personnel change is the most noteworthy. We have bid farewell to two longstanding employees, Joyce McLaughlin and Doug Allen. With their departure came the shifting of roles and new team members. Namely, Will Craven and Keaton Haney have arrived and Leigha Martyn made the move to the Biologist position. More details are included above in the newsletter. So we will have a lot of learning and adjustment to contend with, but it is also an exciting time of opportunity, new ideas and energy. Though the area covered by our aerial program will not change from 2025, the material applied will be a major shift. Midland has historically maintained a 50/50 split between granule/liquid BTI product applied during the spring aerial larvicide program. This was done due to the cost savings of using liquid, which for the current program of 65,000 acres equals $80K. But the liquid has always meant more restrictive conditions for application to include humidity and greater wind limitations. And despite careful monitoring of these, the liquid treatment could still come up short of the granule material’s efficacy. So for 2026 the decision was made to carry out a program entirely with granule BTI at an added cost of $80K. Though more expensive, it should make the program easier to carry out and aid overall efficacy – fingers crossed. MCMC has been applying season-long extended release Altosid (active ingredient methoprene) to key catch basins for years. You should all recognize the risk of insecticide resistance involved with such a practice. Fortunately, no resistance is evident in Midland County to methoprene – yet anyway. But after hearing of the resistance issues that the districts in the Chicago area have observed, MCMC is shifting to the use of Sumilarv for these basins in 2026. We might look to a third class of larvicide as well and start a rotation program moving forward. Final sampling of 2026 change - planning and executing a remodel of the front office space of MCMC. Taylor Quick is most excited for this one! So lots of changes for 2026 in Midland County. We look forward to seeing what innovations and new opportunities emerge! Carl Doud, Director |
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Program plans and goals are in place as we complete our off-season work, including hiring seasonal staff for what will be our 50th mosquito control season. We look forward to commemorating this milestone with the community through social media and public outreach, as well as hosting an open house on June 26. We plan to share historical perspective highlighting the foundation on which our program has been built, while also acknowledging the hundreds of community members who have spent a summer working to control mosquitoes since 1986.
For the 2026 season, the first spring mosquito larvae were found in snowmelt pools on March 9. Unseasonably warm temperatures in early March were responsible for this hatch, and the substantial rainfall that followed has added to the amount of floodwater habitats. We will address this population through our Spring Aerial Larviciding Program in April. As always, weather will dictate our mosquito and arbovirus season. Our strategies for control are outlined in our 2026 Program Plan, which serves as our community notification. This plan includes the following highlights for 2026:
Be safe, and best of luck this upcoming season. Bill Stanuszek, Director |
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The process of hiring seasonal staff started in January and all positions were successfully filled. We welcomed Katie Knapp, Josh McAleese, Tyler Bailey and Connie Blacker as new field technicians. Jessica Dopp was promoted to the Office Assistant / Utility position.
New equipment has arrived including the remaining GIS tablets from Frontier Precision and 2 ULV truck fogging units from Clarke. We are expecting bids from local dealerships regarding the purchase of two new work trucks that would replace 2 older 2010 models. All orders for mosquito control products have been placed and we await their arrival. Seasonal foremen returned on March 23rd to begin installing No-Spray signs and long drive stakes through out the county. The remaining seasonal field technicians returned on March 30th to begin the treatment of standing water in the county. Biologist Laura Hill has been preparing for the season and busy monitoring flooded wood lots for larval activity. Have a safe and productive season! Larry Zapfe, Director |
