The Alamosa Mosquito Control District's mission is to use environmentally sensitive practices to protect the health and well being of our public from disease and annoyance caused by mosquitoes.

Prior to the establishment of the Alamosa Mosquito Control District (AMCD) by an election in 1966, it was unbearable to be outside during mosquito season. According to some "old-timers", people would walk around downtown Alamosa waving branches to ward off the pests, thus the need for the District was determined. The founding members of AMCD were: Robert Bowers, Robert Foote, Stanley Knapp, Maurice Morris, and Vern Stenzel, attorney, and Carlos Lucero. These members founded the organization and led the initial attack against mosquitoes in Alamosa.

A volunteer, elected board of five members governs the district. The board of directors meets on the third Wednesday of each month at the AMCD office and shop located at 513½ Fourth Street in Alamosa. Our current members are: Karen Crowder (President), Barbara Orton (secretary), Toney Cantu (treasurer), Dr. Frank Novotny, and Dr. Larry Sveum (Vice President).

The AMCD is a special district supported by taxes on property within the district boundaries. The taxes are about $38.00 per year on a residence valued at $150,000. The current mill levy is 3.5mills as established by voters in May of 1998. The current annual budget for the district is approximately $430,000.

Our current staff consists of a manager, surveillance, larvacide and adulticide supervisors, a computer and testing technician, and control technicians.

AMCD has a fully integrated program consisting of: surveillance with light traps and counting and identification of trapped mosquitoes from the beginning of April through the end of September; larvaciding of mosquito breeding water; adulticiding of flying mosquitoes by truck fogging and aerial application; and testing of mosquito pools for the West Nile Virus. .