Doesn’t quite feel like it yet, but spring is here. That means you can expect mosquitos, ticks and other crawlers to soon emerge. We caught up with Vermont’s “Bug Guy” on his last day. He’s got the 411 on what you need to know for this spring and summer.



With hiking, biking, and spring sports on our mind, you may be wondering how buggy Vermont will be in the coming months. Well, for years Alan Graham has been one of the pro’s trying to answer that question. Friday marked his final day as Vermont’s Entomologist, the Bug Guy.



“I just tell people if you’re interested in something, study it. The more you find out about it, the more you learn about how much you really don’t know,” he said. It was that curiosity that sparked his interest in natural history. Since a youngster he’s been interested in small invertebrates. As an Entomologist his days are spent monitoring, trapping, and studying Vermont’s insects. Meticulous work, “Each mosquito that we pick up in a trap is hand-picked up and looked at under a microscope, and then identified and tested. Same with ticks,” Graham stated.



So what does Graham say about the upcoming year in Vermont?



It’s a tough one to answer. Conditions depend heavily on environmental factors. “We didn’t not find as much mosquito born diseases as we have in other years,” he said. But experts did find West Nile Virus in Vermont last year, there were two human cases last year. And when it comes to the Zika Virus, he says Vermont is relatively safe, “Fortunately we don’t have the mosquito species up here that carries that disease. It’s more of a tropical disease.”



We can thank Vermont’s colder climate for that. One group that seems to be thriving however, the tick population. “We know that ticks are going to be out there, we know that from our tick surveillance we know that more than 50 percent of the ticks we’ve picked up are positive for Lyme Disease. That’s alarming to us,” he explained.



2016 marked the first ever statewide tick survey for Vermont. Collections were done in 85 towns across the state. Unfortunately Lyme Disease is a serious threat for outdoor enthusiasts. Graham says to take extra precautions in June and July. For him, working to help keep people safe is number one. A reason he’s been a Bug Guy for decades, “We’re not going to be able to exterminate ticks, we’re not going to be able to exterminate mosquitos, but we can lower the risk of tick and mosquito born diseases by letting people know they need to be careful themselves,” he said.



You can find more preventative tips on the EPA website.