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Mosquito control district warns of record West Nile year, outlines 2026 plan for Orono
Summary
Alex Carlson of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District briefed Orono council on a record West Nile year, described the District’s surveillance and larval-control program and outlined outreach and operational changes for 2026 including revised tire‑recycling pickup events and expanded resident education.
Alex Carlson, a representative of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, told the Orono City Council that last year was a record year for West Nile virus across the District and described how the agency plans to respond in 2026.
The presentation, given during the council’s regular meeting, said the District recorded 45 human West Nile cases within its service area and “over 100 in Greater Minnesota,” which Carlson described as higher than the previous record of 28. Carlson said surveillance showed an 18 percent positivity rate and that the season’s disease activity arrived earlier than usual.
Carlson outlined the District’s work: weekly adult mosquito trapping, wetland and larval surveillance, laboratory species identification and targeted larval control. “We do 247,000 acres treated by helicopter, 12,000 by drone, and 16,000 by hand or backpack,” Carlson said, summarizing last year’s larval-control totals districtwide. He emphasized larval control as the primary tactic and said adult spraying is used sparingly and only for human‑health emergencies.
Orono‑specific activity in 2025, Carlson said, included more than 1,000 site inspections, roughly 3,000 acres of larval treatment in the city and treatment of 793 catch basins; no adult acres were treated in Orono because staff did not detect disease‑level risk there. Carlson also noted that the District recycled 33 tires in Orono and fielded only five resident calls about mosquitoes.
Looking ahead to 2026, Carlson said the District is expanding outreach and research: hiring a research entomologist, renovating lab space in St. Paul and adding a garage at the Maple Grove facility. He announced a change to the tire‑recycling program: instead of individual curbside pickups, the District will host scheduled summer pickup events in Hennepin County and a districtwide event in October, with dates to be posted on the District website.
Council Member Benson asked whether MMCD runs an internship program; Carlson said the District hires interns aged 18 and older, primarily college students, and that school presentations (including at Orono High School) are a regular part of outreach.
The presentation closed with a reminder to residents that nuisance‑level mosquito numbers can be low even when disease‑vector mosquito risk is present in late summer, and that personal protections (repellent, awareness) still matter.
The District provided the council with data visualizations and directed residents to an online interactive map showing wetland sites, species histories and scheduled helicopter activity.
