Ticks

Yes, they can be. Ticks are blood-feeding parasites, and the Western Black-legged Tick found in our region can transmit Lyme disease along with other pathogens. Most bites do not lead to illness, but the risk is real enough that any attached tick should be removed promptly and the bite watched afterward. Ticks are most likely to be encountered near canyons, trailheads, and open spaces, especially if you hike with pets, so checking yourself, children, and animals after time outdoors is the best safeguard.

Ticks rarely arrive on their own; they are carried in. Properties that border canyons, community parks, or other natural open spaces are at higher risk because squirrels, deer, and pets pick up ticks in the brush and drop them onto your lawn. Once there, ticks settle into tall grass, dense vegetation, and leaf litter, then climb the tips of plants to quest for the next host. The transition zone where your landscaping meets wild vegetation is where they concentrate most.

Yard upkeep does a lot on its own: keep grass mowed short, clear tall weeds and brush near the home, and lay a 3-foot barrier of wood chips or gravel between the lawn and wooded areas to slow tick movement. Checking pets and children after outdoor activity matters too. But ticks keep migrating in from bordering canyons and brush, so for properties along open space a licensed technician's targeted perimeter treatment of those transition zones, often as recurring service, gives more reliable control than yard work alone.