BATS! :o)) ... bats consume mosquitos at an alarming rate and will keep the population down for you. Build bat boxes and put them in your tall trees, encourage the bats with an appropriate garden. Lets see.. here's a link for you:

http://www.adamsfarms.com/pest_disease_control_14.htm

Dragonflies also consume an enormous amount of mosquitos but I don't know if there's a way to attract them to your swampy area... you'll have to do some research on that.

Some plants are also known to be repellant to mosquitos so you may consider to plant those nearer to your home and living/recreational areas of your property.

Regarding mowing your saplings, it shouldn't harm the ecosystem as long as you keep it simple and minimal. In some cases removing saplings is a necessary evil to allow the other saplings a fighthing chance of survival. The other benefits of a path is that it keeps people and pets from roaming around and squashing everything that you want to allow to grow and spread freely and definitely keeps kids and dogs from "whooshing up" even more of the dreaded mosquitos.

Hope something there is of some use to you. :o)

Barb
S/W Ontario
Zone 6a

Many insects (including butterflies) breed or overwinter in leaf litter, so raking is certainly a disturbance. If you've got amphibians, you've got a healthy ecosystem, so I'd think long and hard before disturbing it. Paths are definitely the way to go.

Many creatures will help you control mosquitoes--bats, dargonfly larvae, and those wonderful amphibians. What I would NOT do is use any insecticides at all.

Sounds like a great piece of property.

Thanks for the advice.

I noticed a lot of bats around the house last year - maybe a few bat houses in the trees would attract them to the woods. Or maybe there were so many around the house because they live in the woods.

We are in the monarch butterfly migration path, so I definitely don't want to disturb any insects. I won't rake (though I think the monarchs migrate).

Thanks a bunch!!

While it is great to encourage bats in your area, there is no evidence that they appreciably affect populations of mosquitos. Mosquitos consist of less than 1% of a bat's diet.

Here is a link that might be useful: HealthyOntario link

I hope you are talking about cutting saplings and removing leaves in a path and not all over? If you do it all over, it will destroy your woodland. The tiny wildflowers and other small plants need leaf cover for fertilization, moisture retention, and temperature buffer. So do small animals. Saplings provide understory. What are the saplings? I removed red maples specifically from my woodland - they suck water and nutrients from soil surface. You could visit local arboretum or botanical garden, or call your state's ag dept to find a Master Gardener who can advise you what to remove to enhance rather than destroy your lovely woods.

Brenda, I only plan to remove the saplings along the paths and I think that I'll just leave the leafs on the ground now. I really don't know what they are - it's too early in the spring to tell right now, and I was unable to walk back in the woods after we bought this place last summer, because of the mosquitos. Along the edges, I've seen a lot of willow saplings. Inside, I suppose it is mixed conifers, maple, and birch.

I like the suggestion to contact a local Master Gardener. I would hope that the gardener wouldn't mind helping out.

Regarding the mosquitos: I have heard that a thin layer of mineral oil over the top of the water suffocates them in the larval stage. I was wondering what mineral oil might do to frogs. I would assume it would interfere with the functioning of their skin.

I wouldn't put any kind of oil on any pond, and it might actually be illegal for you to do so. ...if you encourage frogs and bats, I think you will get a handle on the mosquitoes. But, as you know, mosquitoes are pretty much impossible to get rid of.

It's okay to remove saplings if they are over-crowded. It's also okay to remove trees if the canopy is too dense, and you want a more dappled kind of shade. Make sure you ID before you remove, and remove the non-native ones first! Like Buckthorn(Rhamnus Cathartica), for instance. It will choke out everything.

Master Gardeners are a program run by state ag dept and meant to multiply the efforts of too few county ag agents in most states. They are volunteers trained to help you - they can help with trees and also with mosquito control advice - I wouldn't try oil - it will suffocate the tadpoles that eat the larva for one thing. Sorry, I don't know Michigan plants, so I can't help, but I do know there is help out there locally for you. Good luck!

This is a product that changes the surface tension of the water interfering with mosquito life cycle. I have used it in bird baths. I understand that some southern cities spray with it. There is a lso a biological (bacteria) control for mosquitos in the form of 'donuts' or granules that you sprinkle in water. That control is recommended by my city as a safe treatment. We can buy it here at most garden and pond stores only in season. I can't say if the surfactant treatment worked but it didnt seem to bother any creatures since I just did birdbath and flowerpots. I do know the donuts and granules made a big difference in my large deeply filled drainage ditch. Before applying last summer there was a huge cloud of mosquitos over the water. Two weeks after treatment with both granules and donuts there was no cloud over the water and this area is brutal for mosquitos. However in one part of the ditch most downstream as the water flows a neighbor adds massive herbicide and I believe motor oil to the water (blast him). I can see rainbow films on the water there, no frogs, and vegetation decomposes very smelly in the water. Nonetheless that water also carried huge mosquito clouds, and the biologic treatment did not work in that area. I dont know if it was his herbicide, the motor oil or something else he added but the mosquito clouds remined in that area, and dropped off to no cloud in the sections he couldnt tamper with. ps I dream of the day that neighbor moves. He is too dumb to know we are lucky to have that ditch to gather the water in one place for treatment. Plus it looks lovely

Here is a link that might be useful: Water surfactant mosquito control

Good luck with your new property.
Some years mosquitoes are alot worse than others.........but please don't use anything in your swamp. Even though we hate them, and they carry diseases, they are part of the circle! What I do is just try to find things that I can use or wear, that will protect me.
I think you're going to probably have to wear protective clothing on your walks. There's some really light-weight stuff out there to buy.
When it comes to "fixing up the woods", less is defininitely more! Good luck. It sounds like a really neat place!

mosquito donuts?

Isn't this something the oldtimers used to use in their ponds?

Let me look it up...

otherwise known as dunks.

Here's a study on them:

http://environmentalrisk.cornell.edu/WNV/WNV-LArchive/0884.html

Here's a retailer:

http://www.rinconvitova.com/mosquito_control.htm

I don't know anything about them but my husband busts them up and puts wee pieces in our bird baths. He says they keep the larvae out.

I understand they are donut shaped so you can tie them and keep them from floating away.

Clarenancy

I'd see nothing wrong with using stakes to slowly mark out a logical path system as you walk through the property -- you'll probably find the most comfortable route and there will be points of interest that you want to see again and again. Once you have it marked out, you can concentrate on "improving" a comfortable walking path, perhaps 3-5 feet wide. Once I had mine designed, I used local mulch materials to even it out side to side and keep grades steady. This allows you to focus on what you see rather than where you step.

As to the mosquitos, seems to me that's part of the package of owning wetland. Now if someone could come up with the means to get rid of gnats....

good luck with your project

Was just out spreading big pine bark nuggets on the path to the woods. Not IN the woods but just the path through the back garden. This looks neat and is great under foot for someone who is a bit unsteady when walking. I've been round-upping that path to keep it clear and now see that there is poison ivy coming up in the woods near the gate that is crying out for roundup as well. I don't 'get' poison ivy but do try to eradicate it when seen so others can enjoy the woods without repercussions. And yes, I know poison ivy is a native plant but it is one I can do without.
I'm also applying roundup to multiflora which definitely is NOT native.

not sure that one can complain about mosquitos whilst living in a wetland and still try to keep it 'natural'. i agree with gmehl in that its apart of the deal.

as to the restoration factor, there is no blanket statements to any project. i think its worth ur time (and $, cuz ur now the steward of a piece of land and its also part of the deal, even tho the bank didnt mention that part. i suppose that ecology rarely comes up in closing rooms) to bring in someone that understands the system and give u some pointers.

froggy