Higgins Lake – 2024

SWIMMER’S ITCH CONTROL PROGRAM

Please explore our SWIMMER’S ITCH 101 tab on the top of the page to learn more about swimmer’s itch. If you can’t find this tab, use these two links: Swimmer’s Itch Life Cycle and Swimmer’s Itch Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Many of you have recently reported seeing large groups of common mergansers showing up in open water areas on Higgins 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 Higgins 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 Higgins Lake will be trapped and relocated by the SWIMMER’S ITCH SOLUTIONS team. We will also continue to assist the HLSIO and the Higgins 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.

THREE specific ways you can do to help fight the battle against swimmer’s itch:

1. Report A Common Merganser NEST on Higgins Lake

Early spring (from ice-out until May 31) is the time of year when common mergansers nest on Higgins Lake. If you see a single common merganser flying and landing on the same tree on more than one occasion, there’s probably a nest nearby. Click on the link above to report the location of a common merganser nest.

2. Report A Common Merganser BROOD on Higgins Lake

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 Higgins 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.

3. important iconReport A CASE OF SWIMMER’S ITCH on Higgins Lake

Please use the link above to report any and all swimmer’s itch cases on Higgins Lake in 2024. Thank you.