Education and larvicide are the primary weapons to help prevent spread of the West Nile virus in Independence Township.
At a special meeting Thursday, June 12, trustees voted to approve a strategy including educational brochures mailed in property tax bills, application of larvicide in areas where carrier mosquitoes may breed and limited aerial spraying of adult mosquitoes.
The township will receive $15,000 from Oakland County, and officials approved an additional $50,000 from the general fund toward mosquito abatement.
Township DPW and parks employees will be called on to place larvicide packets in identified public catch basins.
Meanwhile, residents will be called on to inspect their own property for anything that could hold standing water. Buckets, toys, eavetroughs and other items should be cleaned, and items such as bird baths and pet water bowls should be changed at least twice a week, officials said.
The only aerial spraying would take place in areas such as township parks to protect people at evening events, according to Clerk Joan McCrary.
‘It’s in the trees above where they live,? she said, and the spray will not be used near residential areas.
Officials have generally agreed that ‘functioning wetlands? are not a breeding ground for Culex or ‘urban? mosquitoes, the breed that carries the virus from infected birds.
‘The main thing is that not all mosquitoes carry the virus,? McCrary said.