Yellowknife (July 07/04) - A "slow melt" in the spring has helped keep the mosquitoes at bay, said Dennis Kefalas, manager of Public Works for the City of Yellowknife.

"There doesn't seem to be any standing water around town," Kefalas said.

Mosquitoes require "standing water," like ponds or puddles, to reproduce. No water means no breeding grounds for the bloodsuckers, with results that no Yellowknifer would ever complain about.

"I think the previous two years have been worse," said Ivan Gloeden of the bug situation this summer. Gloeden is a city parks worker and has been caring for municipal green space for the past three summers, a job that normally goes hand-in-hand with itching.

This year the bugs did not hit until last week, said Gloeden.

Gloeden agrees that the dry spring may have blessed us with the recent mosquito-free weeks.

"I'm no bug expert, but that's my guess," Gloeden said.

Mother Nature cannot be given all the credit, though. The City of Yellowknife has been allocating about $20,000 to $30,000 a year towards reduction of standing water in city limits, said Kefalas.

Creating drainage in areas water may collect is one way to accomplish this, Kefalas said.

Kefalas' outline of the City's official position on bugs is similar to the mandate of most Northerners.

"We try to kill them when they come and land on us," he said.

Some people take a slightly more pro-active approach.

"I kinda stick with the after-bite," said Samantha Johnson, a Yellowknifer camping at Fred Henne Territorial Campground.

With an open-air fire ban in place, Johnson has turned to citronella candles when battling the bugs.

Citronella products are an all-natural alternative to Deet-based products, and are gaining popularity, said Doug Coulter of Overlander Sports.

"The advantage to (citronella) is there's no health issues that I know of," Coulter said.

Powerful stuff

Deet should not be used on young children, said Coulter. It may cause cancer in high concentrations. Deet can also be corrosive to fabrics.

Coulter said a friend of his was camping when he spilled some deet-based repellent on his sleeping bag.

"(The repellent) actually melted a little hole on the top of the bag," Coulter said. This is enough to make him wary.

"I've got nice gear, I don't want to get it wrecked."

Coulter said mosquito jackets are also selling well as an alternative to bug repellent.