Capitol Beach residents still fighting midges

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BY ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star

It’s hard to say who’s winning the War of the Midges.

The Capitol Beach Community Association estimates it has spent $150,000 to $200,000 to control the gnat-like pests.

But after four years, the pesky bugs still plague this west Lincoln lake development.

View Slideshow

A close look at a midge on a residential wall in Capitol Beach in 2006. (LJS File)

Step outside and risk a midge flying into your mouth or up your nose, residents say.

Drive around, especially at night, and you run into clouds of the little pests.

And it’s only spring.

Residents say the problem gets worse when temperatures rise.

“Last year they were so bad my husband had to wear a mask when he mowed,” Barb Cowins said.

The community association started battling the midges in 2005, a year after it dredged the 400-acre lake to remove silt and make it deeper for boating and fishing.

The dredging destroyed aquatic plants and killed most of the fish that eat midge larvae. With no natural predators, the midge population got out of control.

And if the midges alone aren’t bad enough, they attract hungry spiders. So when Cowins sits on her deck, she keeps one eye on her two kids and the other on webs.

“People are out with their brooms taking out spider webs,” she said.

Still, association President Ken Bradshaw believes his group is winning the war.

Its midge-control program has reduced the midge population significantly, he said. Recent sampling in the lake shows larvae counts are down two thirds from this time last year, Bradshaw said.

Recent warm weather caused a small hatch, which is what residents are seeing now, he said, but most of those midges are gone.

The control program includes treating the lake with larvicide and spraying common areas to eliminate adult midges. Over the years, the group has stocked more than 300,000 fish — mostly catfish, bluegill and bass — to try to restore the ecosystem. It also encouraged homeowners to treat their yards with pesticides.

“You’re never going to have much plant growth on the bottom of the lake. There never has been because it’s such a shallow lake,” Bradshaw said.

The association’s 250 households are paying for the program. Bradshaw estimated the group’s annual dues have doubled since 2005, but he declined to give an amount.

Resident Clint Condon agrees efforts are paying off. The midges are still a nuisance, but he believes they’re about half the size they were four years ago. And they appear to have migrated away from the shore.

“They are bad on top of the hill and not as bad down here,” Condon said.

Rather than migration, Bradshaw thinks the group is dealing with two species: an initial larger, easier-to-control species and now smaller midges.

The association still takes heat from residents who say it created the problem by dredging the lake.

But Bradshaw said neighbors who don’t belong to the association need to cooperate. It would help, for instance, if more “people on the hill” treated their lawns.

Meanwhile, the midges are likely to remain for another summer.

Said longtime resident Judy Campbell: “We really thought it was going to be gone this year.”

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.