Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Animals: fish

• Community and Urban Pest Management: public health, residential/housing

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Human Health: other, workers, residents, applicators

• Natural Areas: wildlife

• Pollinators: habitat

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: biological control, chemical control, cultural control, disease vectors, mechanical control, other, pesticides, prevention

• Animal Production: aquaculture, preventive practices

• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, wetlands, wildlife

• Sustainable Communities: other, public participation, quality of life

The Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District (SLCMAD) consists of ~111 mi² including urban and rural environments. There is approximately 40,000 acres of wetland habitat within the SLCMAD jurisdictional boundary, which is where the new Utah State Correctional Facility (USCF) is located. Overall, there are 400,000 acres of wetlands around the Great Salt Lake (Utah Rivers Council 2024). The wetlands provide habitat for all stages of the mosquito life cycle, and it is not uncommon for SLCMAD’s adult mosquito surveillance traps to collect nearly 30,000 adult mosquitoes from a single trap in one night throughout the summer months in those habitats. Each year, SLCMAD tests collected mosquitoes across its jurisdictional boundary and regularly records over one hundred positive mosquito samples for West Nile virus (WNV).

The USCF is building the capacity to manage the populations of mosquitoes and other biting insects with the help of SLCMAD since their opening in 2022. However, this is just one piece of integrated pest management (IPM), and education and outreach must also be considered. This proposed project addresses these issues through the creation of a mosquito outreach and education program at the USCF to be available for inmates and corrections staff. The proposed program includes two components: the first focusing on teaching and training inmates and correctional staff about IPM and mosquito biology, with an opportunity for them to obtain their pesticide applicator license (licensures good for three years and can be renewed); the second focuses on a fish rearing program to teach and train inmates and staff about animal husbandry, conservation, and biological controls as part of IPM. Some incarcerated have not been exposed to science or IPM in the past, thus this project creates opportunities for these individuals to be trained in a science-related field they did not know existed or did not think was possible for them to participate or work in. Both components of this project will assist inmates in gaining vocational and technical skills that can be transferred after release into job positions and/or further educational opportunities.

These programs will be integral to help mitigate the mosquitoes at the prison and develop a workforce of individuals with knowledge in IPM to be applied at the USCF and after release. This project will also help spread awareness of mosquitoes, mosquito-borne diseases and what can be done (i.e., IPM) that the community can also take part in and learn more about.

Objectives

1. The primary objective of the proposed project is to increase awareness and adoption of IPM at the USCF.
   1. This objective will include educating and training USCF inmates and staff.
   2. Additionally, this objective will include introducing inmates and staff at the USCF to rearing the least chub, a native fish species to Utah. The least chub will be used as a biological control agent against mosquitoes and develop a fish rearing program at the USCF. The learning and actions through this objective will serve as a baseline for other animal husbandry programs for other sensitive species which can serve as biological controls of pests.
   3. Conservation of a sensitive fish species, endemic only to Utah, will also be completed using the least chub in this project instead of an invasive fish species (mosquitofish), in line with core IPM practices.  

2. The second objective is to develop vocational skills of individuals in different populations through this project, this includes the incarcerated, Department of Corrections staff, and students hired to help with this project.
   1. The project will attempt to supplement and provide experience and knowledge to varying populations, incarcerated and students, with vocational and technical skills that will transfer to future career or further educational opportunities.
   2. This will increase the number of individuals with capabilities to conduct and provide IPM, with opportunities to obtain their own pesticide applicator licenses and gain a better understanding of the biology of disease vectors and other pest organisms.
   3. Using the least chub as a biological control agent at the USCF also exposes individuals to science and IPM, therefore training and educating them on other science-based fields, fostering a further opportunity for success in placement of a job or continued education.

3. The third objective of the proposed project is to share the outcomes and resources developed from this project with others.
   1. This will allow those within and outside of Utah and others in the different IPM regions to apply, build on, and improve what was designed and learned throughout this project to add to or better fit with their own organization.
   2. The IPM, biological, and environmental component of this project is applicable to many other facilities that house and/or educate individuals and can provide a stronger sense of connection to nature, while encouraging increased awareness and adoption of IPM practices.