Wetlands Restoration

Since 1999, Peconic Baykeeper has worked for the cessation of Suffolk County's vector control activities (except in times of actual health crises). This division of the county's Department of Public Works sprays pesticides over large portions of the county and maintains 700 miles of wetland ditches.

Tidal wetlands serve a critically important function by filtering both surface waters and freshwater that drain into our estuarine waters through runoff and seepage.

The existing network of mosquito ditches act as direct conduits or channels from the transitional upland areas to receiving waters, thereby conveying pollutants from our homes, our streets, our sewers and our industries at a rate that prevents natural absorption and filtration. With increasing water quality degradation, protecting and improving the marshland's capacity to filter these pollutants is an issue of extreme importance.

Human and ecological health concerns exist over the widespread pesticide spraying by vector control in Suffolk County over both residential areas and parklands. Spraying is now done in the name of reducing the risk of West Nile virus infection from mosquitoes, vector control has been spraying for decades as "nuisance control."

Pesticides are chemical or biological substances used to kill or repel targeted organisms. All pesticides are poisons and in many cases they are designed to impact the immune, reproductive, or nervous systems of insects. Suffolk County uses Scourge, Anvil, Permethrin and Malathion, to name a few. Human health effects of these pesticides can include both acute and chronic problems. These effects include skin and eye irritation, headaches, dizziness and nausea, weakness, difficulty breathing, mental confusion, disorientation and seizures. Children can be particularly sensitive to chemical exposure because of their relative small body size, immature immune systems and rapid growth cycles. The EPA has classified several of the products used as being highly toxic to fish and crustaceans.

Vector Control's History

Mosquito ditches were originally dug to facilitate the drainage of standing water in tidal wetlands to reduce mosquito breeding. The understanding of wetlands science has evolved since the 1930s and it is now widely recognized that ditching has had an adverse impact on the important ecological functions that tidal wetlands serve. Ditching damages sensitive ecosystems and important breeding areas and habitats. Evidence suggests that it takes 70 to 100 years for a marsh to fully recover from ditching.