On a rainy day in mid-April, a mosquito fighter named Quinten Salt was checking in on his fish, making sure the special weapons were maturing as expected.
Are you hoping to make your backyard the star of the summer? One government agency might be able to help.
On a rainy day in mid-April, a mosquito fighter named Quinten Salt was checking in on his fish, making sure the special weapons were maturing as expected.
Salt and his team rear western mosquitofish in a big, humid room at the headquarters of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. Throughout the summer, they’ll place the hungry swimmers in about 800 ornamental ponds next to homes across Utah’s capital — for free.
“This is something that a lot of members of the public out here really like, because there’s no pesticides,” said Salt, who works as an urban field supervisor. “This is just a natural way to kill mosquitoes.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Western mosquitofish are grown in the fish hatchery at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Salt’s district is tasked with patrolling the bug-infested Great Salt Lake wetlands, one of the most prolific mosquito habitats in the West. The goal is to keep the biting hordes out in the wetlands and away from Salt Lake City residents trying to enjoy their summers outdoors.
But the wetlands aren’t the only place where mosquitoes hatch and menace humans and their pets. Backyards and neighborhoods can harbor favorable habitats for larvae that spawn in aquatic nooks like ponds, catch basins and tree holes.
Salt’s team is responsible for those urban environments and responding to residents’ calls for help combating the bugs. Staffers, many of whom are seasonal hires helping out in the mosquito-heavy months, use biological controls as well as chemical means depending on the type of habitat and species they’re targeting.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kelsey Fairbanks, a technician at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District, talks about a couple different species of mosquitoes in the sorting lab on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
The district — which is a government entity that gets its funding mostly via property taxes — can help with a host of mosquito-related problems, including by targeting adults with more traditional pesticides and addressing standing water. All of the treatments the district offers residents are free.
Salt’s pond program is one of three keystone control measures the district uses in Salt Lake City neighborhoods. The team also routinely checks tree holes in the city that could host mosquitoes that can spread dog heartworm to residents’ furry friends. A group of district bicyclists treated 50,000 catch basins in Utah’s capital last year, hoping to prevent the bugs from emerging from those “perfect, nasty habitats,” Salt said.
Similar to the district’s rural program, urban mosquito specialists aim to attack the bugs when they’re young and confined to water because it’s easier to isolate and kill them when they’re in more confined habitat.
Salt Lake City residents can call the district or fill out a form on its website even if they have an adult mosquito problem or have shallow standing water or other potential habitat on their property.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) An aedes (ochlerotatus) niphadopsis mosquito, described as an opportunistic aggressive feeder that prefers humans for a blood meal, is pictured under a microscope at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
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