Betsy Veach

SLIDELL nn Representatives from U.S. Fish and Wildlife met with local Mosquito Abatement officials Wednesday night in Slidell to discuss the recent federal law prohibiting the spraying of certain mosquito abatement materials on local federal wildlife preserves. Established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the new law has recently put a stop to the spraying of thousands of acres of land in St. Tammany Parish. The law affects three major areas of the parish: the Big Branch wildlife refuge area between Lacombe and Mandeville, wildlife refuge between Slidell and Lacombe, and thousands of acres of wildlife refuge in the Slidell Bayou Liberty area. "This law will cause our mosquito problem to get a lot worse," said Parish Councilman Steve Stefancik when asked how the federal ban would affect Slidell's current mosquito problem. "Most mosquitoes migrate from the marshlands to populated areas," he added. "These areas (protected by the federal law) are lands between the marshlands and homes, primarily between the real heavy wetlands and people. If you can't spray the areas closest to the people, those people are going to be inundated with mosquitoes." The material in question is naled, and according to Director of Mosquito Abatement Chuck Palmisano, naled has been used by local mosquito abatement agencies for the past 30 years. "We have documentation from the EPA concluding this substance to be safe," said Palmisano. "Naled is labeled for this use (mosquito abatement), and it's widely used throughout the United States." Local officials are currently in the process of procuring authorization from Washington U.S. Fish and Wildlife which will allow the substance to be sprayed in the Slidell area once again. In the meantime, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will allow some limited applications of naled on a temporary basis.