The bad news is that the Mosquito District just called and said it was going to spray pyrethrin insecticide on the Conservancy’s BKS preserve tonight. We normally don’t like this, as insects on the preserve serve as food for some of the NBHCP’s covered species (such as tri-colored blackbirds).
It seems the District recovered one or more dead birds on the property today, and they were positively identified as being infected with West Nile Virus (WNV). It also found other dead birds in the area, not associated with the Conservancy’s property. The good news is that the District will only be spraying the borders of the preserve. It seems the Conservancy’s alliance with the District has helped minimize mosquito populations to the point where the Conservancy’s wetlands are less of a problem than surrounding land in terms of mosquito source populations. While we’re not happy about the spraying, we are happy we’re deserving of far less of it than surrounding land uses, as most of the preserve won’t be sprayed at all. It’s great to see that the cooperation between the District and the Conservancy over the years has produced concrete results.