Time for a change in direction
City of Mansfield Council Members,
This would be the perfect opportunity to make the changes that have long been needed for an efficient and equitable mosquito control program for the city. There would be nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Moving to a proactive mosquito control program is the right thing to do. It would produce a lower overall background mosquito population as compared with currently letting them grow exponentially until there is an out of control problem that leads to multiple applications of ground spraying. Also providing a 300’ no-spray buffer would provide an equitable balance between those who want to be ground sprayed and those that don’t. Someone in a no-spray buffer zone still has the right and ability to use pesticides if they so choose and those that want to lead a pesticide free life have their option to do so as well. No one gets left out of the equation. Keep in mind that there will be an overall reduced need for ground spraying in the first place as the city will be using the most effective means of mosquito control, not the least.
Making these changes would mean that Mansfield would now be in compliance with EPA and mainstream mosquito control organization’s guidelines that have proven to produce long lasting reduction in mosquito populations as compared to ground spraying. These changes could be presented to the citizens of Mansfield as a mosquito control program that will bring a lower overall mosquito population to the city as well as a reduction in costs to the taxpayers.
Proactive mosquito control activities should mirror and be at least as stringent as what is being applied in Fort Worth. After talking with the Fort Worth Consumer Health Department for the past few years I feel sure they would be more than willing to share what has worked well for them and what hasn’t. This would be instrumental in getting Mansfield’s program up and running in a short amount of time.
These changes should be relatively easy to incorporate into the existing policy simply by adding a habitat removal / larviciding response table that would precede Appendix A on page sixteen of the current policy. The habitat removal larviciding table would take precedence over the ground spray table with transparency being of utmost importance.
We have sought to bring the other side of the debate to your attention and hope that you have found it to be enlightening and sometimes eye opening. For all the right reasons it is time to bring about well needed change with the way mosquito control is currently executed in the city.
Thank you,
Larry McFarland