Black Fly Spraying Scheduled Along Delaware River, Tohickon Creek

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The PA Department of Protection will be conducting an aerial black fly suppression operation on Wednesday July 9, on the Delaware & Lehigh Rivers and the Tohickon Creek.

The operations will begin after 8 a.m. at Washington Crossing and will include flights in Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties.

The helicopter used for these operations will be a Bell OH58+ with tail number N659HA and is grey with blue and red stripes.

Spray operations will specifically take place within the following sections of each river:

• Delaware River Between Slateford in Northampton County and the area near Trenton, NJ/Yardley, PA in Bucks County.
• Lehigh River Between the confluence of the Delaware River and Allentown
• Tohickon Creek Between Point Pleasant and Route 611

Helicopter Applicators Inc. will be dispersing Vectobac 12AS, which is a Bti product manufactured by Valent Biosciences. Bti is short for Bacillus thuringiensis var. israilensis, which is a bacterial larvicide, not a chemical, and is the only product used in Pennsylvania's waterways for black fly suppression. Vectobac 12AS is a brown liquid with a fish oil odor.

The helicopter will fly low near tree top level and will release the Vectobac at various predetermined positions on each stream. Vectobac is not toxic to fish or other aquatic organisms.

The work does not involve a helicopter spraying over the entire county and applications will only occur on specific waterways. More information regarding the PA Black Fly Suppression Program can be found by clicking here.

For those interested in learning more about the black fly program visit https://www.dep.pa.gov/BlackFly