Todd Hanson didn't imagine he'd be fighting mosquitos for nearly 30 years -- West Nile virus 'sealed the deal'
Jul. 5—GRAND FORKS — Upon looking back at his years as manager of the Grand Forks Mosquito Control Program, Todd Hanson's first thought was the man who hired him.
That man was Don Shields, who recommended the creation of the program and was the director of Grand Forks Public Health until his retirement in 2014. He hired Hanson in 1995.
"The first place I have to begin is a thank you to Don Shields for putting the mosquito control program forward," Hanson said.
Hanson recently retired as manager, his almost 30-year-long career focusing on keeping the city of Grand Forks protected from mosquitoes of all kinds — more than 35 species, according to previous Herald coverage. Hanson's retirement followed his wife's when she retired at the end of December. Hanson said he "ran the numbers" and decided the timing was good for him to retire, too. Following his retirement, the mosquito control program will be moving from Grand Forks Public Health into the newly created
environmental management department.
When he first came to the program, following his graduation from University of Minnesota-Crookston with a degree in natural resource management, Hanson said he wasn't initially envisioning the job as a long-term career. The West Nile virus changed that when it came to Grand Forks in 2002, which was also the wettest summer in Hanson's career. Mosquitoes can breed in any container that holds water for a week or more, making that wet season more conducive to growing the mosquito population. The program, which initially set a date to go spray for mosquitoes, grew to include surveillance and sprays became triggered based on mosquito numbers and West Nile virus activity.
"(West Nile virus) sealed the deal," he said. "Because all of a sudden it brought a level of importance to the position."
Since the introduction of West Nile in 2002, mosquito control has been notifying the city yearly of any confirmed detections of it.
Hanson and the mosquito control have kept the bloodsucking insects at bay with
two methods
, combining the proactive and reactive brands of defense. Larviciding is more proactive and takes up the bulk of the work, Hanson said in a previous story, which involves treating mosquito breeding sites with larvicide. Mosquito control workers treat sites up to two miles outside of city limits, and have identified more than 1,200 of them. The process takes two to three weeks to complete.
The second method, adulticiding or fogging, is the reactive kind of treatment. Mosquito control vehicles drive through the city, starting at sunset, spraying pesticide to kill the adult mosquitos. This method usually goes for around two and a half hours. The amount of spraying conducted depends on the mosquito trap count. There are about 15 mosquito traps across the city, and when the count reaches 35, sprays start. They also can begin if there's a noticeable increase in the West Nile virus-carrying Culex tarsalis.
Now that he's retired, Hanson mostly plans to spend some time traveling and working on home projects. He said he hopes for the future success of the mosquito control program as it shifts to be a part of the new environmental management department. The new department's creation was approved by a 4-3 vote by the Grand Forks City Council, which will also combine some environmental management tasks done in the water works department. Assistant Water Works Director Lisa Botnen will become the new department head. While the dissenting council members voiced concerns over how this change will affect mosquito control, Hanson said the city will do what's best for the program and people. He extends his thanks to the Grand Forks City Council, Mayor Brandon Bochenski and Eric Nelson, the new mosquito control supervisor.
"Grand Forks has one of the best mosquito control programs in the country," he said. "I just feel blessed to have had the ability to be able to work for the city."
