Aerial spraying for mosquitoes will occur early this morning between Centerville and Mottsville lanes in western Carson Valley.
Douglas County Mosquito Control Officer Ron Lynch said he's had to resort to aerial spraying to attack a pool of West Nile virus positive mosquitoes out of range of ground-based equipment.
He said a yellow biplane will be spraying pyrenthrin, a natural pesticide found in a type of chrysanthemum, which breaks down into harmless substances after a day or two, according to an online Science Daily article quoting University of California, Berkeley adjunct professor Donald Weston.
Lynch said the material being sprayed is the same as that used by the ground equipment.
"I've tried to get them from the ground and I can't do it," he said. "The only way to do it is by air. I've talked to the head of the State Agriculture Department and he gave me the go-ahead."
Lynch said he is going door to door to inform people in the path of the spraying.
He estimated spraying will start at about 6 a.m.
