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CMCD Tours Offer an Educational Look at Mosquito Control

by Jonathon Little, MBA
Director of External Affairs

he Collier Mosquito Control District offers free tours The last stops along the tour include the Technical
for residents and community engagement groups. Every Development department and our hangar right next to the airfield
Ttour is a little bit different, and they give a firsthand at the Naples Airport. Here visitors learn about our drone and 3D
glimpse into a day in the life of mosquito control. printing programs and then get to check out our fleet of airplanes
Tours begin with an in-depth look at CMCD’s operations and helicopters used for mosquito control missions. Pilots are
center. The operations center is where most days start and around to answer questions about the aircraft, and the hangar is a
where treatment decisions are made. Staff review live field popular place for group photos at the conclusion of the tour.
data and monitor mosquito activity and reports from the Visitors usually come out with a new understanding of the
public. Tour participants get a front row seat to see how we depth of our local mosquito control program. They are a great
decide when and where to treat for mosquitoes along with the educational opportunity for children and adults alike. Tours are
opportunity to ask questions of our operational leaders. free and last about an hour to an hour and a half.
As the tour continues, visitors are welcomed into the If you are interested in scheduling a tour to learn more about
laboratory to learn about the science behind mosquito control mosquito control, please visit https://cmcd.org/schedule-speaker/.
and our research projects. On any given day they will see our
scientists and researchers in action, working on everything For more information, visit cmcd.org or call 239-436-1000.
from resistance and disease testing to preparing for field trials Anyone interested in learning more about the District’s disease
and collecting mosquito trap data. Collier County is home to monitoring efforts or touring the laboratory and other facilities can
more than 50 different species of mosquitoes, and our team are request a tour by emailing info@cmcd.org.
experts in identifying all of them! Depending on the team of The Collier Mosquito Control District works to safeguard the health
year, traps can have tens of thousands of mosquitoes in them, and well-being of our residents through the safest and most economical
and it is the research team’s job to count and identify them so means available.
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.

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.

Life in Naples |April 2026 71