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Council hears limits on treating midge flies; staff offers to help craft wetland plan
Summary
After a county presentation, councilmembers and residents pressed for solutions to midge‑fly habitat at Vineyard's lake edge. County staff said midge flies are a bystander in mosquito control, that wetlands removal is legally constrained, and offered to help develop a master plan and contractor options.
Council discussion following the mosquito presentation centered on midge flies along the Central Corridor wetlands and what the city can do to reduce habitat without violating wetland regulations. A council member asked whether treatments aimed at mosquitoes would affect midges; Jason Burt replied that "the larvicide we use will affect a midge fly larvae as well as a mosquito," but emphasized that midge flies breed in muddy lake edges and that county abatement follows statutory limits and cannot simply remove wetlands.
Council members and residents discussed habitat management and possible contractor or city work to reduce thatch or overgrowth. One council member proposed developing a master plan for the wetland and returning to a working session in about a month with options. Burt offered to help develop ideas and noted contractors exist who specialize in lake‑edge larviciding.
