| Updated: 3:20 p.m.
For the past several years, mosquito-control crews have used small planes to spray pesticides over vast stretches of wetlands west of Salt Lake City International Airport.
The waters flowing off the mountains are impounded year-round in stagnant ponds and braided stream channels, creating ideal breeding habitat for the pesky blood suckers that spread disease and annoy people.
The cost runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but officials have come across an outfit that will do the job for free: the U.S. Air Force.
The military is happy to perform the spraying as a way to train pilots as they fine-tune their skills for flying close to the ground.
Thank you for publishing the <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/02/26/brian-moench-richard/" target= blank>op-ed by Richard Holman and Brian Moench</a> of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment about the unjust consequences to west side residents of a plan by the Salt Lake Mosquito Abatement District (SLMAD) to increase the spraying of pesticides near the new inland port.
Keep it local
‘Tis the season, to be sure. The influx of visitors both domestic and foreign has begun. The numbers are anticipated to be well below normal this year, but the faucet is still on. Out-of-state license plates and record home sales substantiate the theory that people are not only visiting, but moving here, in many cases from states with the worst COVID statistics.
Grocery stores last summer were quick to respond to the need to protect populations in the “vulnerable group” of senior citizens. Now the group that needs protecting might be expanded to include “locals.” Particularly near our ski areas, the stores are packed with vacationers either just picking up something for the evening meal or stocking up for their weekly rentals; it’s not a stretch to assume many are from areas of the country less successful than Utah in monitoring and slowing transmission rates.