Public Announcement: Aerial application of herbicides, pesticides

  • Published
  • 6th Civil Engineer Squadron

MacDill Air Force Base, must evaluate the use of aerial application of herbicides and pesticides to ensure that proposed spraying activities would not result in an adverse impact to the environment. The aerial application of herbicides and pesticides is proposed for three activities on base: to control mosquito populations, to control the spread of invasive plant species and to improve airfield maintenance through regulating plant growth. Each of these activities support the military mission but in the case of mosquito population control, will also improve public safety and health and benefit morale. The use of aerial spraying to control mosquitos will be accomplished on an as needed basis and only when legally mandated thresholds in mosquito populations have been exceeded. These population counts are determined through routine surveillance using landing rate counts or trap counts. Aerial application of pesticides for mosquito control is accomplished by Hillsborough County in coordination with the MacDill Pest Manager. The control of invasive plant species is required by Executive Order 13112 Invasive Species, and the aerial application of herbicides will provide an additional management tool which may be used to kill invasive plants located in inaccessible areas of the base on an as needed basis. Similarly, the aerial application of selective herbicides to control the growth of broadleaf weeds and reduce grass growth across the airfield will allow the installation to reduce mowing operations on the airfield. Reducing mowing operations will improve airfield safety by reducing potential bird-aircraft strike hazards. In all three cases, the use of aerial application of herbicides and pesticides is proposed to be accomplished on an as needed basis, and only after careful consideration to insure that its use is warranted and will be highly beneficial. For more information click here.