Leaving mosquitoes out of Wetland restoration

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2004

When it comes to restoring nature, some members of the natural world are shunned for good reason. Restoring wetlands has a foreseeable and inevitable downside: the creation of a mosquito habitat. Breeding disease-transmitting mosquitoes is not just an unpleasant side effect of creating wetlands, but a consequence that must be acknowledged when planning wetland restoration projects, states Elizabeth Willott. an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Wetlands do have benefits, she reminds skeptics. They "clean water, help in flood control, provide habitat, and have aesthetic value." Even so, environmental ethics require taking into consideration that after a wetland is restored or created, people's exposure to mosquito-borne diseases may increase. For instance, in just a few years, West Nile virus, first found in the U.S. in New York. already has spread as far as Washington state and Arizona.

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as malaria, encephalitis. and Wast Nile. can be just one bite away. In the 1800s. when Tucson's now-dry riverbeds had water more regularly malaria was present in the basin. "Several obstacles block people from frankly discussing mosquito problems," maintains Willott. The short-term nature of funding is one difficulty. Another is the fear that bringing up negative aspects of a wetland restoration project makes it more likely the project will be rejected. However. Willott suggests that a proposal is strengthened by explicitly addressing mosquito control.