Suffolk County plans helicopter mosquito spraying in marshes countywide
Suffolk was set to fly a low helicopter over marshes from Smith Point to Southold after its first West Nile-positive mosquito pool of 2026 turned up in Dix Hills.
Suffolk County scheduled a low-flying helicopter over marshes from Babylon to Southold from July 8 through July 10 after its first West Nile-positive mosquito sample of the year turned up in Dix Hills. The Division of Vector Control scheduled the work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., weather permitting, using a granular pellet application of VectoPrime FG, a larvicide that contains Bti and methoprene.
The spray zone stretched across tidal marshes and wetlands in Babylon, Brookhaven, Southampton, Islip, East Hampton, Riverhead and Southold. It included Smith Point, Cedar Beach, Mastic Beach, Oak Island, Moriches, West Sayville, Heckscher State Park, Cedar Point County Park, Indian Island, Overlook-Aquebogue, Crescent Duck Farm, Aquebogue Farm, Millar Farm, North Sea, Quintuck Creek, New Suffolk, Hedges Creek, Lyman Marsh, Pipes Neck Creek and Bellport Bay.
Surveillance already showed virus activity: a Culex pipiens-restuans pool collected June 24 in Dix Hills was the first mosquito sample to test positive for West Nile virus in 2026. By then, Suffolk had tested 359 mosquito samples for West Nile this year, including 100 in the weekly reporting window. An Aedes aurifer sample collected June 17 in Southold tested positive for Jamestown Canyon virus, and two dead crows found June 24 in Ronkonkoma tested positive for West Nile.
No special precautions were recommended for residents because the helicopter was to fly low over marsh areas and take steps to reduce drift into inhabited areas. Suffolk’s Integrated Marsh Management uses ecological restoration and mosquito control.
The vector-control program operates under New York State Public Health Law Article 15 and Suffolk County Local Law No. 16. The county puts the number of mosquito species in Suffolk County at about 50, and only some transmit disease. The county lists a spraying information hotline at 631-852-4939 and general county information at 311.
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