SWIMMER’S ITCH CONTROL PROGRAM

Please explore our SWIMMER’S ITCH 101 tab on the top of the page if you want to learn more about swimmer’s itch.

Many of you have recently reported seeing large groups of common mergansers showing up in open water areas on Larks Lake. Please don’t panic. These particular birds do NOT contribute to spreading swimmer’s itch for the following 2 reasons:

1. Most of the individuals in these groups are spring migrants, meaning they only stay around Larks Lake for a few days before continuing their journey northward to breed on lakes at a higher latitude.
2. The cold water makes it extremely unlikely that any parasites passed by these common mergansers will find and successfully infect a snail.

GREAT NEWS!! Common merganser broods can be trapped/relocated in 2024.
All common merganser broods appearing on Larks Lake will be trapped and relocated by the SWIMMER’S ITCH SOLUTIONS team. We will also continue to assist the LLLA and the Larks Lake community in your fight against swimmer’s itch. Part of that support includes maintaining this Higgins Lake-dedicated webpage for reporting common merganser broods and swimmer’s itch cases.

TWO specific ways you can continue to help…..

1.Report A Common Merganser BROOD on Larks Lake (CLICK HERE)

From June 1 – July 15 the single most important thing you can do to help us control swimmer’s itch is to report any common merganser broods you see on Larks Lake (click the appropriate link above).

If you aren’t sure that the brood you saw are common mergansers, click on the link anyway and you’ll be shown pictures to help you determine their identity.

2. Report A CASE OF SWIMMER’S ITCH on Larks Lake (CLICK HERE)
Please use the link above to report any and all swimmer’s itch cases on Larks Lake in 2024. Thank you.