Ipswich BoH to Review Management Practice Plan for Mosquito Control

IPSWICH — The Ipswich Board of Health invites the community to attend a meeting on April 3 and provide feedback about mosquito control efforts in the coming year.
The Town is a member of the Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District (NEMMC), which creates a Best Management Practice Plan for each of its 32 member communities.
The Board of Health will review and vote whether to adopt the Best Management Practice Plan for 2023 as drafted, at its meeting on Monday, April 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall Room C.
The draft plan may be reviewed at https://jgpr.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_BMP_Ipwh_Draft.pdf
NEMMC conducts mosquito control and surveillance from the middle of the spring until the beginning of the fall. This includes weekly collection of mosquitos from surveillance traps from late May through early October. Surveillance traps provide data regarding mosquito population density and diversity, and allow the NEMMC to determine the dominant human-biting mosquitoes and potential disease vectors in local mosquitoes.
Infected mosquitos can spread several diseases, most notably West Nile virus.
The primary focus of control efforts in Ipswich are on freshwater larviciding, catch basin treatments, adult mosquito surveillance and testing, aerial larviciding of the salt marsh mosquitoes, and adulticiding.
“Community engagement and feedback are crucial to the Board’s success in shaping this plan for the coming year,” Public Health Director Colleen Fermon said. “Any interested residents are encouraged to attend this meeting and share their thoughts.”
For more information on the Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District, visit https://www.nemassmosquito.org/