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Mosquito control program dropped for Shuswap Lake Provincial Park

Little Shuswap Lake Band says research on environmental risks is lacking
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The Columbia Shuswap Regional District has dropped its mosquito control program for the Scotch Creek area following a notification from the Little Shuswap Lake Band that it was cancelling its involvement in the program. (Richard McGuire photo)

In response to concerns of the Little Shuswap Lake Band, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) will not be doing mosquito control this spring in the Scotch Creek area.

In a March 2 letter to the regional district, Robert Hutton, the band’s executive director of territorial resource stewardship, states the band is discontinuing its involvement in the mosquito control program immediately.

“As you may know, we recently had an election and the new Chief, along with his council, are opposed to any further larvacidal spraying within the Scotch Creek Indian Reserve,” said Hutton, adding council is of the position that research is lacking with regard to the environmental risks associated with the method of mosquito-control used by the CSRD.

In response, the CSRD said the program will not be effective if the areas of nuisance mosquito breeding habitat on band lands and at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park and campground are removed. So the regional district has opted to cancel the program for those areas.

In a media release, the CSRD stated the mosquito control program uses a “soil-borne bacterial product that specifically targets mosquitoes in their larval growth stage before they hatch. It is widely considered to be non-toxic to fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and most other insects.”

The CSRD program involves the use of the larvacide Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis). According to Health Canada, Bti is a naturally occurring, widely distributed organism in the environment. Regarding its use for mosquito control, “there have been no documented cases involving toxicity or endocrine disruption potential to humans or other mammals over the many years of use in Canada and around the world.”

Read more: Mosquito control dropped for Shuswap Lake and Tsútswecw provincial parks

Read more: CSRD mosquito control being reconsidered for North Shuswap

However, one study found Bti use can affect chironomid midges, a “central resource in wetland food webs.”

“The results from this laboratory study indicate that the risk for chironomids in the course of Bti-based mosquito control is underestimated,” reads the 2017 report. Decreasing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis sensitivity of Chironomus riparius larvae with age indicates potential environmental risk for mosquito control. “This could lead to disruptions on higher trophic levels within the wetland food web.”

Electoral Area F Director Jay Simpson was concerned with the decision, but said there is no point using tax dollars to pay for a program that won’t be effective.

“We are respectful of the Little Shuswap Lake Band’s decision, as they are the ones who have the authority over their lands,” said Simpson. “The CSRD and the Band are good neighbours, but even good neighbours don’t always agree on every issue that crosses over boundary lines on a map. The important thing is to keep the lines of communication open between us.”

Simpson hoped the CSRD will meet with the new chief and council and share information about mosquito control, as well as any other issues of mutual interest that affect the region and its residents.

In 2019 the CSRD agreed to discontinue its mosquito control program in the Hilliam Road area and at Shuswap Lake and Tsútswecw provincial parks after the Band expressed concern and BC Parks determined nuisance mosquito control wasn’t necessary “for the preservation or maintenance of the recreational value” of either park.

High water in summer 2020 brought with it an abundance of mosquitoes. That resulted in a large number of complaints to the CSRD, BC Parks and the Little Shuswap Lake Band, and the mosquito control program was reinstated in 2021.



lachlan@saobserver.net
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