CMCD Tours Offer an Educational Look at Mosquito Control

by Jonathon Little, MBA
Director of External Affairs

The Collier Mosquito Control District offers free tours for residents and community engagement groups. Every tour is a little bit different, and they give a firsthand glimpse into a day in the life of mosquito control.

Tours begin with an in-depth look at CMCD’s operations center. The operations center is where most days start and where treatment decisions are made. Staff review live field data and monitor mosquito activity and reports from the public. Tour participants get a front row seat to see how we decide when and where to treat for mosquitoes along with the opportunity to ask questions of our operational leaders.

As the tour continues, visitors are welcomed into the laboratory to learn about the science behind mosquito control and our research projects. On any given day they will see our scientists and researchers in action, working on everything from resistance and disease testing to preparing for field trials and collecting mosquito trap data.

Collier County is home to more than 50 different species of mosquitoes, and our team are experts in identifying all of them! Depending on the team of year, traps can have tens of thousands of mosquitoes in them, and it is the research team’s job to count and identify them so that we know what species of mosquito to tailor our efforts for.

Following the lab, visitors head outside to learn about our mosquitofish program. Since the program’s inception, CMCD has given away more than 52,000 fish to our community. These fish are perfect for small areas of contained water that can’t be dumped out, and each fish can eat up to 100 mosquito larvae a day.

The last stops along the tour include the Technical Development department and our hangar right next to the airfield at the Naples Airport. Here visitors learn about our drone and 3D printing programs and then get to check out our fleet of airplanes and helicopters used for mosquito control missions. Pilots are around to answer questions about the aircraft, and the hangar is a popular place for group photos at the conclusion of the tour.

Visitors usually come out with a new understanding of the depth of our local mosquito control program. They are a great educational opportunity for children and adults alike. Tours are free and last about an hour to an hour and a half.

If you are interested in scheduling a tour to learn more about mosquito control, please visit https://cmcd.org/schedule-speaker/.

For more information, visit cmcd.org or call 239-436-1000.

Anyone interested in learning more about the District’s disease monitoring efforts or touring the laboratory and other facilities can request a tour by emailing info@cmcd.org.

The Collier Mosquito Control District works to safeguard the health and well-being of our residents through the safest and most economical means available.

CMCD Tours Offer an Educational Look at Mosquito Control

To learn more about the Florida Mosquito Control Association, visit their website at www.yourfmca.org.

To learn more about the District or to sign up to receive treatment notifications, visit our website at www.cmcd.org.

The Collier Mosquito Control District works to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our residents through the safest and most economical means available.

If you would like more information about how we control mosquitoes, please visit our website at cmcd.org or call us 239-436-1000.