PA DEP will be conducting an aerial black fly suppression operation on Thursday May 25, 2023, on the Neshaminy Creek, Delaware River and Lehigh River. This operation will begin approximately 8:00 AM from Doylestown Airport. Washington Crossing Park will also be used as a loading area at approximately 9:00AM.
- The Neshaminy Creek will be treated from 611 Bridge in Doylestown to Playwicki Park in Langhorne.
- The Delaware River will be treated from Trenton to Portland PA in Bucks and Northampton County.
- The Lehigh will be treated from the Delaware River in Northampton County upstream to Bethlehem area in Lehigh County.
The helicopter conducting the treatment will be a green and white Bell 206 Longranger with the tail numbers N641HA. 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.
Product labels and SDS sheets are below.
For more information about the PA Black Fly Suppression Program click here.
- Vectobac 12AS - Specimen label (PDF)
- Vectobac 12AS - SDS (PDF)