Suffolk County Fights Invasive Species In Gardiner County Park

BAY SHORE, NY — Residents wondering what the work at the marshland on the Great South Bay in Gardiner County Park have an answer. Several large earth-moving machines are working as part of a marsh restoration project by Suffolk County Vector Control.

According to a representative from the Seatuck Environmental Association, the Islip-based environmental nonprofit group:

"The basic premise is that healthy marshes (more natural hydrology, less phragmites) breed less mosquitoes than unhealthy marshes, so the work, in theory, is being done as an alternative to spraying methoprene and other pesticides."

The phragmites are the ubiquitous reeds that line the shoreline of the popular county park along with many other Long Island waterways, but are actually an invasive species that damages the health of the marsh by reducing the diversity of plant and animal life in the areas it invades.