What next – locusts? Already beset by catastrophic rates of unemployment, foreclosures and plummeting real estate prices, Bend has been visited by a new plague this summer: mosquitoes.
According to a story in this morning’s Bulletin, the buzzing bloodsuckers have been turning up in more places and hanging around longer this year than usual.
The Eye can vouch for that claim personally: It seems like every time we spend more than 15 minutes outside we come back with a dozen red, itchy welts.
The reason the experts quoted by The Bulletin gave is our wet spring weather, which dragged on through the first half of June. Lots of rain means plenty of nice, stagnant puddles for mosquitoes to raise their families in.
We can see the plausibility of this theory; our spring weather, after all, really was remarkably soggy. But we can think of something else to pin at least part of the blame on: the real estate boom.
Before you laugh, think about it: A boom means more houses and offices getting built – a lot more. More houses and offices mean more landscaping, more lawns and flowers and plants – and more watering. More watering means more puddles of water standing around.
And the water doesn’t have to stand around long for it to spawn a new generation of mosquitoes: They can develop from egg to adult in as little as 10 days.
So the next time you’re trying to enjoy a summer evening out on your deck or patio while swatting away at swarms of airborne parasites, reflect that this may be one more reason to be grateful for Bend’s policy of no-holds-barred growth. Not to mention the cheery prospect of West Nile virus.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.
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Please Bruce – do some serious research. This is actually part of a cycle. Mosquito eggs can stay in drier, grassey areas along waterways for years. When there is an abundance of moisture like our past spring and the water levels rise the eggs get moisture and the hatching process begins. THAT is why we have so many of the darn pests this year. West Nile virus, like stupidity, kills…Blame it on the boom? In a pig’s eye!
Fer crap’s sake, this post was a JOKE, not a damn Ph.D. thesis!
This explains all the skeeter-borne malaria throughout the less developed parts of the world. Damn those subdivisions and big-box stores popping up all over sub-Saharan Africa!
Like I said, the post was meant a joke. But I would like to make one serious point: Bend (unlike sub-Saharan Africa, the Amazon Basin, etc.) is in the high desert. “Desert” means it’s dry. Mosquitoes generally don’t breed prolifically in deserts. But what happens when you take large chunks of former desert and turn it into an artificially verdant landscape with irrigated lawns and gardens? Voila — you transform a mosquito-hostile environment into a mosquito-friendly environment.
HBM, do you not even know your geography? Bend sits at the edge of the High Desert and have you not noticed the number of lakes and rivers we have in the area – within a 0 to 30 minute drive? “Bend” is not desert – never was. That is why people settled here – availability of natural resources. If you would like, I can organize a great day trip for you – you will be amazed at the wonders you will see! Maybe you are due for a vacation because your idea of a joke is pretty much a reach.
Does anyone remember the Pandora moth plagues? Wherever did they go?
Why don’t you blame it on all those ex-californians that moved up there during the boon boom bruce…
Maybe you should just buy some blinds from Dennis P……DB
Susan: Are you now going to try to tell me that Bend doesn’t have a dry climate?
Average annual precipitation, Bend: 10″-13″
Average annual precipitation, LA: 12.2″
Our dry climate is one of our biggest SELLING POINTS, fer crap’s sake!!!
“That is why people settled here – availability of natural resources.”
You’ve got to be kidding. People didn’t settle here until the early 20th century precisely BECAUSE of the lack of natural resources, particularly fertile soil and WATER. The early Oregon settlers passed through here and went to the Valley. Irrigation made agriculture in Central Oregon possible, and then the coming of the railroad made it possible to export the region’s vast timber resources, which was when the population really took off.
BTW I have lived here almost 25 years and I doubt there are any “wonders” you can show me around here that I haven’t seen already.
“Why don’t you blame it on all those ex-californians that moved up there during the boon boom bruce..”
Yeah, they built all them damn swimmin’ pools …
Interesting. I’m sure you must also have some sort of conspiratorial theory as to the development of the record high temperatures around Central Oregon lately too – maybe all the hot air created by the hyping of Bend during the boom?!
Actually you can make the case that the boom of building and development has added more carbon emmisions and caused global warming and more extreme weather like record breaking high temps. I know, I know you probably think that global warming is a conspiracy
i have read a few of your articals and i must say that you need to find a new job…… most real reporters have experts who look at facts and draw conclusions and then the reporter reads these and reports the news, you seem just to make stuff up and report it as true. i mean come on did you think “well people are annoyed by Mosquitos and they keep talking about the housing boom, what can i write that would combine them? oh i got it!” as for your other reports you are nageative and one sided, i mean look at your artical about how there is nothing to do in bend
Didn’t you wingers read Bruce’s post. It was a joke. Maybe you didn’t get it but you can step off the gas on the lack of research and reporting angle. What a bunch of clowns.