To the editor:
It was interesting how I read the article by Tim Burtis on mosquitoes in the June 28 issue of the Eagle Bulletin that same day I got nailed by one for the first time this year. Fortunately I notice it at just the moment she drove “her” proboscis into my arm and was able to eliminate this one from the gene pool. This is not sexiest, only the females are after the blood so they can reproduce.
But what brought about this letter is I was in Fayetteville lately and down by the location of the sluice-way that allows water to enter into the Limestone Creek feeder for the Old Erie Canal. Absolutely no water was flowing from the creek into the feeder making any water still in the feeder a great breeding ground for more blood suckers to be produced. Somewhere between four and seven days are needed for the eggs laid onto the still water to become the flying nemesis to most warm blood creatures.
So my question is why has the old dam that was at the feeder location in the creek been removed (held the water back enough to flow into the feeder), and how can something be done to get the water flowing again? Having water constantly flowing would make it difficult for ‘skitters’ to breed there, thereby removing one location they are coming from, and also raise the level of water in the feeder and canal so paddlers can better utilize this local waterway during the summer.
Any water in the creek or the canal eventually makes its way to Oneida Lake, so the lake level would be the same one way or the other.
Michael McCabe
Chittenango
