County To Loan Bug Vacuums For Towns To Deal With Spotted Lanternflies

WHITE PLAINS, NY — If you are seeing spotted lanternflies in your communities, Westchester County may have a way to help deal with them.

Earlier this year, the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation acquired high-powered vacuums to help reduce the number of the invasive critters in county parks and has since bought 10 more designated to loan to local municipalities.

Municipal employees can request vacuums through a request form found here. Equipment is given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

County Executive George Latimer said Westchester is taking proactive steps to combat the spotted lanternfly invasion, from equipping the parks with high-powered vacuums to supporting our local municipalities in their efforts.

“We’re working together to combat this threat to our environment,” he said.

Westchester is collecting data from the municipal employees who use the vacuums to help track exact locations of spotted lanternflies.

Information can be shared with the county by scanning a QR code that is placed on the vacuums. Data that is being compiled includes the municipality, exact location, number of canisters used and the life-stage of the spotted lanternfly.

Westchester is continuing to urge homeowners to kill the invasive insects and report them via iNaturalist.