PETITION TO MORRIS COUNTY

 

Requesting Increased Urgency and Resources for Tick Control in 2026

Directed to: Dr. Carlos Perez, Jr., Morris County Division of Public Health (cperez@co.morris.nj.us | 973-631-5484)  |  Commissioner Tayfun Selen, Morris County Board of Commissioners  |  Morris County Division of Mosquito Control (mosquito@co.morris.nj.us | 973-285-6450)

 

Our Ask

We want to begin by acknowledging that the Morris County Division of Mosquito Control already operates a tick education and mosquito and tick prevention program as part of its broader public health mission. The division has protected Morris County residents since 1928 and we are grateful for that work. This petition is not a criticism of what the county is doing. It is a respectful ask to step up the resources, scale, and urgency of the existing program this year, because the data shows that the tick population surge of 2026 is measurably beyond what a normal season requires.

 

We are not asking for a single approach or demanding any specific chemical be used. We are asking for increased urgency, proportional resource allocation, and a coordinated, science-driven plan developed by the right people together, one that is safe for all Morris County residents and neighbors, animals, beneficial insects, and the overall ecology of our county.

 

Why This Year Warrants Increased Resources

The case for increased action is grounded in documented, measurable data.

A forecast backed by CDC and NOAA data projects elevated tick activity across the Northeast and Upper Midwest in 2026, consistent with an ongoing five-year trend of extended tick season and northward expansion of tick habitat. Nationwide emergency room visits related to tick bites have reached five-year highs. Last year, in the Northeast specifically, tick bite-related ER visits reached 283 per 100,000 people during peak May 2025, up from 209 during the same period in 2024, a 35 percent increase in a single year. New Jersey ranked seventh among 25 high-risk states for increased tick activity. New Jersey has accumulated more than 51,000 confirmed tick-borne disease cases over the past decade, ranking among the top three states in the nation. Morris County consistently ranks among the worst counties in New Jersey for confirmed Lyme disease cases.

 

On top of these existing trends, this past winter's heavy snow cover acted as a thermal blanket across Morris County, insulating tick populations underground and shielding them from the hard freezes that would normally reduce their numbers significantly. Ticks did not die back this winter the way they typically do. They survived in abnormally high numbers and are now emerging ahead of schedule, with a longer window to find a host. Across the Northeast, tick populations are estimated to be up roughly 25 percent in 2026 compared to last year. Residents across Morris County are already finding ticks on their children, their pets, and themselves in April, before peak tick season has even begun. Emergency room visits for ticks are up 27%. And during the third week of April, 85 out of every 100,000 emergency room visits were for tick bites, according to the CDC’s tick bite data tracker.

 

We are also seeing something that deserves specific attention: residents are finding ticks that have dropped from overhead trees and canopy vegetation, not only from ground-level leaf litter and brush. This matters because standard ground-level tick treatment programs are not designed to address canopy tick populations. Any effective program this year should consider overhead canopy coverage in addition to ground-level treatment, as residents are reporting that trees are a primary exposure route this spring.

 

What Ticks Are Carrying in New Jersey

The NJ Department of Health tracks multiple active tick-borne threats in our state. The most common are Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, with Powassan virus, alpha-gal syndrome, and Borrelia miyamotoi also documented as concerns.

 

Lyme disease, if not caught early, can cause lifelong neurological damage, debilitating arthritis, and chronic fatigue that does not respond to standard treatment. The CDC estimates that for every confirmed case, approximately 10 go unreported.

 

Anaplasmosis can lead to serious illness and death if not treated quickly. Babesiosis is a malaria-like illness that can be severe in older adults and immunocompromised individuals, and recent research shows it is becoming more common across the Northeast. Powassan virus can be transmitted in as little as 15 minutes after a tick attaches and can cause brain swelling, meningitis, and permanent neurological damage with no available treatment.

 

Recent research found that more than one third of nymph-stage ticks tested in the Northeast carried at least one pathogen capable of causing human disease, and some carried multiple pathogens simultaneously. Co-infections make diagnosis harder and outcomes worse. This is not a single-disease problem. It is a growing portfolio of serious illnesses delivered by a population that is surging exponentially this spring.

 

We are asking for seven things, all focused on increasing urgency, improving coordination, and ensuring that the response this year matches the scale of the problem. We leave the specific methods and products to the experts. Our goal is to make sure those experts are in the room, well-resourced, and working together.

 

● First, formally recognize that the 2026 tick population surge represents an elevated public health risk requiring increased attention and proportional resource allocation beyond the county's standard annual program. Morris County was already among the highest in New Jersey for confirmed Lyme disease cases before this year's surge. The situation warrants a stepped-up response before tick season peaks.

● Second, convene a formal stakeholder working group that includes county public health officials, infectious disease physicians and medical doctors who treat tick-borne illness in Morris County, acarologists, entomologists, wildlife biologists, vector biologists,  doctors, farmers and agricultural stakeholders, environmental advocates, beekeepers, researchers at Rutgers, and everyday Morris County residents and neighbors. This group should develop an integrated pest management plan that is science-driven, medically informed, and community-inclusive. In doing so, the working group may wish to look to counties that have already developed formal tick management programs for guidance. Monmouth County's Division of Mosquito Control operates one of the most developed county-level tick programs in New Jersey, including a formal Tick-Borne Diseases Program with active surveillance and tick identification services. Nantucket has been the site of federally funded integrated pest management research including EPA and CDC-supported four-poster deer treatment station studies. Nassau County, New York operates an established seasonal tick management framework treating woodland borders, leaf litter, and residential perimeters from April through October with specific attention to properties near parks and deer corridors. These programs offer proven models Morris County can draw from and improve upon.

● Third, develop and implement an integrated pest management program that considers all available tools and that the working group determines to be safe and effective. This may include targeted treatment of tick habitat areas, habitat modification along trail edges and woodland borders, deer and rodent management strategies, public education and tick surveillance, and where the working group determines appropriate, aerial or canopy-level treatment that addresses ticks not only at ground level but in overhead trees and vegetation, which residents are identifying as a primary exposure route this spring. We ask that any products selected be reviewed carefully for both efficacy and safety, including a transparent assessment of any known health or environmental risks associated with those products.

● Fourth, treat all public parks, open spaces, wooded corridors, trail systems, and residential buffer zones as a coordinated county-wide priority rather than through piecemeal spot treatments.

● Fifth, coordinate with the NJ Department of Health's vector-borne disease surveillance team to identify the highest-risk areas in the county and ensure they receive priority attention.

● Sixth, notify all Morris County residents and neighbors in advance of any treatment schedules so everyone can plan accordingly, using the same resident notification system already in place for the mosquito spray program.

● Seventh, commit to an annual integrated tick management program going forward, reviewed and updated each year based on current population data, so that all Morris County residents, neighbors, farmers, and wildlife are protected every spring.

We trust Morris County's public health officials, physicians, and scientists to make the right decisions about which tools and products to use. We are simply asking that this year, given the data showing a measurable surge in tick populations, those decisions are made with increased urgency, appropriate resources, and the full input of the medical and scientific community alongside the residents who will be affected.

 

What Was Done for West Nile Virus and Spotted Lanternfly

Morris County and neighboring jurisdictions have responded to public health and ecological threats before with coordinated, well-resourced programs, and we believe this tick surge deserves the same treatment.

For West Nile Virus, Morris County deployed its Division of Mosquito Control using helicopter and truck-based aerial spraying of pyrethroid insecticides including Anvil 2+2 and Zenivex E4, applied as ultra-low-volume mist over large areas. Research published in peer-reviewed journals found that aerial adulticiding of this type reduced mosquito populations by more than 50 percent within a week of treatment, and a study of Sacramento County's aerial spray program showed that the odds of West Nile infection were six times higher in untreated areas than in treated ones. The program was effective, it was accepted by the public, and it has continued for years.

 

For spotted lanternfly, the state of New Jersey mobilized a coordinated multi-agency response that included aerial and ground-based treatment of trees and vegetation across affected counties. There was no prolonged public debate about whether intervention was appropriate. The threat was documented, the tools were available, and the state acted quickly.

 

We are pointing to these precedents not to demand the same methods be used for ticks, but to establish that Morris County and the state have both the will and the capability to act decisively on public health and ecological threats when they are recognized as serious enough to warrant it. We are asking that this tick surge be recognized with the same seriousness.

 

How a Tick Program Could Be Different and Potentially Safer

We want to be clear that we are not asking Morris County to simply repeat the West Nile spray program and point it at ticks. We are asking for something more thoughtful, and potentially more effective and safer than what was done for mosquitoes. 

 

First, timing and targeting matter enormously. Ticks are ground dwellers and canopy residents, not airborne. A program designed specifically for ticks can be timed and targeted very differently from a mosquito adulticide program. Spraying at dawn and dusk when bees are in their hives, maintaining mandatory buffer zones around water and beehives, and focusing treatment on wooded edges and canopy rather than open areas can substantially reduce impact on pollinators and aquatic life.

 

Second, and most excitingly, there are emerging biological alternatives to synthetic chemicals that the scientific community considers genuinely promising for tick control. Entomopathogenic fungi, particularly Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, are naturally occurring soil fungi that infect and kill ticks without synthetic chemicals. Research has shown these fungi can achieve 80 to 100 percent tick mortality in field conditions. Critically, multiple studies have found that Beauveria bassiana has minimal impact on honeybees and other beneficial insects under normal field conditions, including experiments where the fungus was applied directly into hives without harming colonies. These biological agents are environmentally safe, do not persist harmfully in soil or water, and represent exactly the kind of innovative, lower-risk approach that a well-resourced, expert-led working group should be evaluating for Morris County.

 

Third, an integrated approach combining habitat modification, biological agents, rodent and deer control, targeted acaricide application where necessary, and public education is likely to be more effective over time than any single method. This is precisely why we are asking for a working group rather than a single mandated action.

 

We want a program that works. We also want a program that the entire community, including those with concerns (which we share) about chemical exposure, can feel confident in. We believe those goals are compatible, and that Morris County has the scientific resources to achieve both.

 

Disclaimer: This petition is for informational and advocacy purposes only. The information provided is based on publicly available sources and does not constitute legal, medical, or professional advice. Petitioners and signers are not legally bound by the contents of this petition, nor do they assume any legal liability for the county's decisions regarding pest control programs. Any pest control decisions made by the county are at the discretion of local officials and relevant authorities. Individuals should consult with appropriate professionals for specific legal, health, or safety concerns. This petition has been updated from the original but the original intent remains.