Otter Creek Watershed Insect Control District (OCW)

The Otter Creek Watershed Insect Control District (OCW), formerly known informally as the BLSG, serves the member towns of Brandon, Goshen, Leicester, Pittsford, Proctor, and Salisbury. The district was organized in 1978 under Title 24 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, §§4861–4866, in response to strong local support for addressing the area’s significant nuisance mosquito problem.

Spread throughout these six towns are nearly 16,000 acres of Class 2 wetlands and extensive forested areas, all of which provide ideal mosquito breeding habitat. The district also encompasses active summer resort areas around Lake Dunmore and Fern Lake, which play an important role in the local economy. Located on Lake Dunmore are Branbury State Park, a Vermont Fish and Wildlife boat launch, the Kampersville and Waterhouse campgrounds, boys’ and girls’ camps operated by the Keewaydin Foundation, and the Point Counter Point music camp. In addition, numerous year-round and seasonal homes surround both lakes. Clearly, mosquito populations can have a profound effect on the enjoyment of the lakes and on outdoor summer activities throughout the district.

As a union municipal district, our mission is to control nuisance mosquito and biting fly populations in our member towns. Ongoing, effective insect control is essential to maintaining the quality of life that residents and visitors expect in this region. To achieve this mission, OCW employs an Integrated Pest Management approach—using a variety of methods designed to ensure the highest level of safety and minimal adverse impacts on humans, wildlife, and the environment, including non-target organisms.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation (ANR DEC) issues a Pesticide General Permit—under the authority of the U.S. Clean Water Act—that authorizes OCW to apply pesticides in and around state waters. This permit, renewed every five years, is supplemented by the comprehensive Regulations for the Control of Pesticides promulgated by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM).

OCW is funded by the taxpayers of its six member towns, as well as through a larvicide program grant from the VAAFM.

The district is governed by a Board of Trustees composed of two representatives and one alternate from each member town, appointed by their respective Select Boards. Individuals interested in serving on the OCW Board are encouraged to contact the Chair of their town’s Select Board.

The OCW deeply appreciates the continued support of the Select Boards and citizens of its member towns. Collaboration and communication with property owners, residents, ANR DEC, and VAAFM remain essential to our mission of reducing and controlling biting insect populations in a safe, effective, and environmentally responsible manner.