Search by State:

Search by Date:

Home

Categories

• Along Roads
• On or Near Bridges
• On or Along Waterways
• On Wetlands and Uplands

Acknowledgements

About this Site

Wildlife Protection

Keeping It Simple: Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads

Introducing mosquito-eating fish to wetland eliminates the need for spraying

When Nevada Department of Transportation biologists captured mosquito-eating tui chub from Spooner Lake near Lake Tahoe and relocated them to ponds on nearby Washoe Lake Wetlands Mitigation Site - a popular bird-watching park and school-trip site - they solved two problems at once: They relieved the lake of its over-population of tui chub and they eliminated the need for helicopter-applied spraying to kill mosquitoes. Indiscriminate chemical spraying of the wetland site would destroy beneficial species like snails and dragonflies and would harm the food chain for all wildlife in the immediate area. Introducing the native tui chub to the site has controlled the mosquitoes, and it has enhanced the food chain by adding a food source for the egrets, herons, pelicans and other birds that frequent the site.
 
--Apr 25, 2003

Photo by Gail Bellenger, Nevada Department of Transportation

Washoe Lake Wetlands Mitigation Site