PA DEP will be conducting an aerial black fly suppression operation on Wednesday July 27, 2022 on the Delaware River, Neshaminy Creek and Lehigh River. This operation will begin approximately 8:00 AM at Washington Crossing State Park.
- The Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County will be treated first, and take place between the 611 Bridge in Doylestown to Playwicki Park area in Langhorne.
- The Delaware River will be treated from Trenton to Slateford in Bucks and Northampton County.
- The Lehigh will be treated from the Delaware River upstream to approximately Walnutport in Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
The helicopter conducting the treatment will be a Bell UH1H Huey with the tail numbers N648HA and is white with red stripes. DEP personnel will be on site at all landing zones managing the operation.
Helicopter Applicators Inc. will be dispersing Vectobac 12AS, which is a Bti product manufactured by Valent Biosciences. Bti is short for Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis, which is a bacterial larvicide, not a chemical, and is the only product used in Pennsylvania's waterways for black fly suppression. The B.t.i. material is a naturally occurring bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) that kills the immature (larval) form of the black fly when they feed on it in the waterways. This application of B.t.i. is not toxic to fish or other aquatic macroinvertebrates found in the treated waterways. The helicopter will fly low near tree top level scan for people/boats on and near the riverbank and release the Vectobac 12AS (which is a thick brown liquid resembling chocolate milk) at various predetermined positions on the stream.
Click here for more information about DEP's Black fly suppression website.