The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-03-27
Permanent q Mosquito Program
launched ann Here By US. Navy
CaspIJtI.. O. C. AdeN Announces
PRIVATE FIRM
TO ELIMINATE
MOSQUITOES
FROM, BOCA CHICA

oPeahhs -. ~. fhuciI, AOtiiiihdltucI
Naval Base, has announced that
the Navy will Immediately start a
large scale permanent mosquito
control program
The work will be done bv private
contractors and is expected to eli
: inmate mosquito breeding in the
B0ca Chica Area.
II - The mosquitoes causing most dis
comfort In the Key West area are
0f the Aedes salt marsh type.
Which breeds primarily in tempo
<. rarys and semi-permanent rain
80 Qppds left following periods Of tiea-
Wy rainfall.
The Navy in the past has used
chemicals, applied by both ground
equipment and aircraft. in mosqui-
: to- cgitrol II is felt that the saw
ings effected by eradication of
mosquitoes with resulting reduction
In cost Of chemical mosquito con-
troll will pay the cost of the pro-
Jet in matter of a very few
years.
Z Commander Conrad E. Grohs,
Gee, USN, Resident Officer-in-
Charge of Construction reports that
the areas Of lime rock in the Boca
Chica area are, while difficult TO-
work, particularly amendable to
ditchiRg with mechanical rotary
wheels or endless telt type ditching
1eqnipment. The resulting ditch re-
qulres little maintenance and does
- not require lining. Some Of the dit
ching will be through rnangrove
salt marsh.
Ip the Immediate future the Of
me ofCaptain W. T. Eckberg, c.
C, USN. officer in Charge Of Con-
= strdtfioh, Sixth Naval District, /
Charleston, South Carolina, win
tan FOR bids on large scale per-
lnlanent MOSQUITO control project
for B0ca Chica, Geiger Key and
~ Big Coppitt Key. The work will be
an extensicl 81 a previous project
IN the same area completed In
1915 siiss
The 1945 project resulted in
MINOR reduction In the number Of
pest mosquitoes and pointed the
II way to complete eradication Of
them in the vicinity of the Naval
AR Station. The present project Is
the result Of almost four years
study by local Navy mosquito con-
troll Officials II includes construc-
tim Of 81 .423 lineal feet of new dit
ching :, cleaning and re0pening Of
7,241 lineal feet OF existing ditch
Ing; spreading Of approximately
10000 cubic yards Of fill: and in
stallation Of several hundred feet Of
clilverf.
Recently Captain G. G. Adell,
Commander Naval Base, requested
Mr. Neil Saunders. Chairman Of the
Monroe County Anti-Mosquito Dis
trict ts call a meeting in which city
and county officials were invited to
participate IN permanent mosquito
ghtfof on Key West and Stock Is
land. DR.. Wilson T. Sowder, pre-
IS vent at the meeting, reported that
ne felt that Kew West was the Only
city In Florida where II was ect.
npmieally possible to eradicate
me mosquito.
One species Of mosquito. the vel
low fever mosquito has been eradi-
Gated in Key West With elimina-
toiii Of breeding places G. other
species. costly and not too effective
thehica1 control can Be reduced TO
bare minimum as II win no Ion
Ger By necessary.
A meeting has teen called for
{ Thursday night at 8 pm. al the
County Clinic to discuss the pre-
hiem further. A movie made in
s key West In 1914 will be shown.
The meeting Is open and All per-
sons interested in making Key West
Better place TO live are invited
10 attend
a44 NJ - n s