The City of Winkler is doubling its mosquito traps this spring from two to four.

In the past, the city trapped on the West and East ends, but will adding two more traps to cover North and South ends as well.

With only two traps, staff often ran into inconsistencies with one trap catching a handful of mosquitoes, the other over 200 (The city starts considering fogging when traps reveal 200 mosquitoes trapped, two nights in a row).

With four traps, they'll have a more accurate picture of what they're up against.

He notes the city's larviciding program continues to greatly control the mosquito population.

"Without it, we'd be out fogging weekly," city staff member Terry Fehr says.

Larviciding is also more effective as it kills mosquitoes when they are concentrated in pools of water.

"We want to be proactive and get them before they're airborne," he says.

The larvaciding product also only targets mosquitoes, allowing predators like dragonflies to flourish.

The malathion used in fogging indiscriminately kills both mosquitoes and dragonflies.

"We want to save the dragonflies and help them battle the mosquito problems we face."

Fehr has been running the larviciding program for ten years, and says it allows them to fog less than most communities.

Parks and Recreation Director Rick Denison says local residents also have a part to play in the fight against mosquitoes in helping reduce standing water.

"Empty eavestroughs, tires, any place water can stagnate," Denison says.