Sitting in his work truck in Heber, Thomas Harris spent his lunch break eating a gas station hot dog. He doesn’t have a lot of time to decompress during the busy summer months.

Harris has worked in pest control for the last 11 years and started his own company called Uinta Pest Solutions four years ago. Since then, business has boomed. Part of that is due to Utah’s population growth. Another factor is the increased prevalence of urban pests throughout the state. He pointed to bed bugs in Park City as an example.

“With more traveling coming to Utah, with more homes, more Airbnbs, more hotels popping up in Park City,” he explained. “We’re seeing as many bed bug calls to Park City as other parts of the valley that were more associated with bed bugs and bugs in general.”

Bed bugs travel, Harris said. So people are likely bringing the nuisance with them. But bed bugs aren’t the only problem he sees growing.

While new home construction is necessary to ease the housing crisis and infrastructure updates are needed, they exacerbate the bug problem. Harris said it disrupts the ecosystems that live in the sewer pipes or in the ground that developers dig into.

Read more at kuer.org.