Eco Rotaract of Nassau County, Long Island installs bat boxes at Brookside Preserve in Freeport

With shovels and power drills in hand, about a dozen volunteers at the Brookside Preserve in Freeport on Saturday worked to address a persistent pest problem by inviting a natural predator: bats.

In 2024, Nassau County trapped, identified and screened 21,736 mosquitoes for diseases, according to a county report. At the 22-acre preserve, a heavily-wooded natural area with the shallow Milburn Creek running through its heart, volunteers said standing water can serve as an ideal breeding ground for the insects.

So on Saturday, members of Eco Rotaract of Nassau County, Long Island, or ERNCLI — a soon-to-be-chartered chapter of Rotary International — planted bat-friendly native vegetation and installed boxes the flying mammals can use to roost and raise their young. By building the habitat, the hope is little brown bats will begin to populate the preserve and reduce the number of mosquitoes, said Christopher McBride, an executive of the club.

“It’s a sustainable way to control mosquitoes,” said McBride, 68, of Freeport. “The boxes will not only serve as a place to rest in the daytime in the dark, but they will also nest in there.”

The effort was funded by a $1,500 Rotary district grant, matched by the Rotary Club of Freeport-Merrick. Westbury-based Hicks Nurseries and Dix Hills-based Atlantic Nurseries discounted the cost of the plants, according to McBride.

'Filling a gap'

Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spreading a variety of diseases, including West Nile. Last year, West Nile virus cases on Long Island approached a record high, buoyed by a warmer-than-normal fall, Newsday has reported. 

Research published in the Journal of Medical Etymology found bats can help keep mosquito populations in check. The county, in its 2024 report, said the most effective way to control mosquitoes is to "identify breeding sites so that they can be modified to prevent standing water conditions...and/or treated to kill the larvae before they become flying, biting adult mosquitoes."

Melissa Griffin, president of the new Eco Rotaract chapter, said up to 75 bats can fit in the small, black wooden boxes, adorned with a bat symbol, that were installed Saturday. The boxes have thin grooves on their interior that the bats can latch onto.

“It really helps with population increase because it gives them a safe place to roost,” said Griffin, 37, of Freeport.

Installing 10 bat boxes — six on poles and the rest on dead trees — is part of the “humble beginnings” to reintroduce biodiversity into the preserve, said Michael Stanton, 72, of Freeport.

“We’ve been plagued with mosquitoes in the Freeport area because there are a lot of wet areas, and this place is one of the worst wet areas,” said Stanton, a member of the rotary club. “So we said, ‘Well, what can we do?’ ”

He said the boxes are “an ecologically-balanced way” of addressing the problem, compared to spraying pesticide to kill mosquitoes.

In addition to hopefully attracting bats to the preserve, McBride said the native plants, including river birches and blackberry bushes, will provide food for butterflies and moths, and attract birds that eat those insects, McBride said.

“Essentially, we’re filling a gap where the ecology has left a hole,” he said.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ