As a community involvement, The Pond Company staff donated our Saturday and Sunday at this year’s Echo Park Lake Lotus Festival to inform the public about mosquito abatement. We educated the public concerning threats that mosquitoes pose, how to recognize them and suggested solutions. To the end of supporting a direct solution, we gave away over 500 Gambusia “Mosquito Fish”. We put the fish in oxygenated water in hundreds of bags we provided to people who visited our booth. It is our hope that these fish made their way to homes that have standing fresh water in their backyards – where they can gobble-up mosquito larva. We handed out supporting printed material to further teach the community. This was all done in the name of mosquito abatement.
In addition, we had a display of “critters” found in the lake: crawdads / crayfish, baby turtles, fish, water snails, etc. Some aquatic plants were on hand for guests to touch and see up close such as the Asian Sacred Lotus Nelumbo nucifera, Water Lettuce Pistia stratiotes, and the Water lilies Nymphaeaceae.
The public attendees were full of curiosity and had lots of questions for us to stay busy answering. We had a really great experience, saw a lot of good interest in all the life of the lake and received many compliments for our efforts. Sincerely, Jon Rasmussen – The Pond Company
