Rockland County Begins Annual Spring Larval Mosquito Control

By Rockland Daily Staff

During the month of May, the Rockland County Health Department plans to treat catch basins, and storm drains through the county's larval control program to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in standing water. 

Larval control focuses on reducing Rockland's mosquito population at the larval stage. It is performed during the spring and summer months by identifying and monitoring over 1,000 mosquito breeding sites and treating approximately 20,000 roadside catch basins throughout Rockland County. 

In an attempt to minimize pesticide use, biological mosquito control is employed in the form of free giveaways to the public, such as the county's mosquito dunks program, as reported by Rockland Daily here.

Larval control treatments may occur throughout Rockland County from April 1 to October 31. Treatment areas include wetlands, woodland pools, retention basins, unmaintained swimming pools, and other water-holding receptacles that may be breeding mosquitoes.

Additionally, the county practices Mosquito Surveillance with a focus on the collection, identification, and tracking of mosquito species, both in their adult and larval stages. Mosquito trap sites are located throughout Rockland County and are monitored from June through September. Adult mosquitoes are collected and grouped by location and species. Specimens are submitted on a weekly basis to NYSDOH labs to be tested for mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). WNV testing results can be viewed here. Larval mosquito specimens are sampled from open breeding sites by field staff and are identified to species. Nearly 2,000 samples are identified each season. Enhanced surveillance has now been employed since the 2016 season - using BG-Sentinel 2 traps - to more closely monitor the Asian Tiger Mosquito (Ae. albopictus) and its movements through the region.