ESCONDIDO: No quick fixes for gnat problems near Lake Hodges

Scientists detail eradication hurdles for residents

By DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Thursday, August 14, 2008 6:49 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- There were no easy answers Thursday morning for three dozen south Escondido residents frustrated by the steadily increasing number of eye gnats in their neighborhoods.

Scientists familiar with the flying pests told residents gathered at a neighborhood forum that there is no known predator for eye gnats, that backyard traps are mostly ineffective, and that finding the source of the problem will be costly and time-consuming.

The scientists urged the residents to lobby politicians to pay for studies that could help determine whether the gnats are coming from Lake Hodges, the Vineyard golf course, a new organic farm just south of the city or some other source.

But even when the source is identified, scientists will be able only to reduce the problem instead of eliminating it, said UC Riverside entomologist James Bethke, who led Thursday's forum.

"There simply isn't any final cure right now," Bethke told residents from the Del Lago, Sonata and Vineyard Estates neighborhoods. "But we can make the problem tolerable if we can find the source."

Bethke said gnats are a quality-of-life issue all over the world, but that the problem is typically worse on golf courses and in dry climates where moisture has been added.

County officials began their first serious research on eye gnats this year in response to complaints from a group of angry residents in Jacumba, a town about 90 miles southeast of Escondido. Scientists began searching for the source of the Jacumba gnats in July, but no such research is planned for the problem in south Escondido.

"If you do petitions and come together to complain, there's no doubt that you'll get a better response," said Bethke, explaining that county and university scientists have no money to study Escondido's problem.

After the meeting, held in the community room of the Westfield North County mall, residents informally agreed to have officials from their homeowners associations create an action plan together.

Norm Barnhard, a member of the Del Lago association who organized Thursday's meeting, also suggested that the associations could ask members for money to help address the problem.

Valerie Mellano, another county scientist, said the residents could form a special assessment district to raise money for research and eradication efforts.

Ann Smith, president of one of Sonata's homeowners associations, said she was upbeat about the neighborhoods coming together. She also said that the special assessment district might be supported by her neighbors.

But many residents raised concerns about apathy when the gnats vanish in a few weeks. Because they only flourish when temperatures approach 90 degrees, eye gnats are purely a summertime problem in Escondido, residents said.

The problem has gotten steadily worse in recent years, residents said. Sonata homeowners said they did not have gnats until the last few years, while some residents of Del Lago and other neighborhoods said the problem goes back at least 12 years.

Borrego Springs and the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs have dealt with similar problems in recent years, said Bethke.

San Diego County officials do not consider the gnats a health problem because they don't bite, and the only illness they can spread is conjunctivitis, or pinkeye. Consequently, fewer resources are devoted to them than mosquitoes and other insects that are considered dangerous to humans, Bethke said.

But Luanna McDowell, a teacher at L.R. Green Elementary School in south Escondido who attended the meeting, said gnats should be considered a health problem because students must stay home when they get pinkeye, which is extremely contagious. She said the number of pinkeye cases at her school has increased sharply in recent years. School officials could not be reached for comment.

Thursday's forum also included a long information session on setting traps. The most effective traps are two-liter bottles with a small puddle of raw egg inside, scientist Brian Vander May said.

Residents said they have used traps in the past, with varying effectiveness. Smith said she believes traps have significantly reduced the problem in parts of Sonata, but Lee McDowell said the traps barely made a dent in the gnat problem when he tried them two years ago.

"These traps will catch so few that it won't make any difference," said McDowell. "The bottles were more of a nuisance than the gnats."

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

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