Restoring wetlands and controlling mosquitoes might seem an odd combination, but the Fish and Wildlife Service has found it to be a compatible relationship. For more than three years, the Service has worked in partnership with mosquito control projects in Massachusetts to restore wetlands using the technique of Open Marsh Water Management.

Open Marsh Water Management, or OMWM, was developed to control mosquitoes by introducing their natural predators to areas on saltmarsh where mosquitoes breed. By modifying the extensive grid-ditching systems installed during the Depression, small fish that eat mosquito larvae can move into pools where mosquitoes breed. With a system of pools and pannes connected by radial ditches, fish feed on mosquitoes during high tide, then retreat to sumps or reservoirs at low tide. This has been found to be an effective, long-term method of controlling mosquito populations without using sprays.

An additional, and very important I benefit as far as the Fish and Wildlife Service is concerned, is that ditched saltmarshes restored by OMWM provide feeding and resting areas for many kinds of migratory birds. A natural saltmarsh has numerous shallow pools or pannes which the grid-ditching system drained. This led to the reduction of feeding areas for shore birds and waterfowl, with a resultant drop in their numbers, as shown by studies on the Duxbury Marsh on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Open Marsh Water Management restores these saltmarshes to a more natural state.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners For Wildlife program is in our fourth year of working with the Essex County Mosquito Control Project of Massachusetts to restore saltmarsh through OMWM. With grants totaling over $30,000 since 1992, Panners For Wildlife has helped to fund OMWM on selected grid-ditched salt marshes throughout Essex County, Massachusetts. The Plymouth County Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project has also entered into a partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Through the vehicle of a multi-year Cooperative Agreement, the Service provides money, while the Mosquito Control Project provides labor and services. Additional money can easily be added as new restoration areas are located, and the agreement can be extended past its original expiration.

Certain types of mosquito control in freshwater areas can also benefit fish and wildlife habitat by removing and replacing blocked culverts, for instance. The Fish and Wildlife Service is always ready to establish new partnerships with mosquito control districts for mutual benefit. Contact your local field office of the Service to find out how you can enter into a partnership.