Anastasia Mosquito Control District was founded on December 8th, 1949.
AMCD covers the entirety of St. Johns and very small parts of Putnam, Flagler and Duval Counties. We are one of 15 Independent Mosquito Districts throughout Florida. Our funds are allocated from government property tax millage rates and grants. Even though in recent years AMCD has gone from an average 1,000 to 5,000 service requests, AMCD has been able to continue successful fiscally sound service.
Part of the success at AMCD comes from the grants that we have been awarded from Federal, State and private agencies to support our advanced research programs. Some of the agencies we closely work with are the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Division of Environmental Health, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory at the University of Florida, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs (FDAC), the United States Armed Forces and more. Locally, we closely work with other St. Johns County government agencies and partner with the St. Johns County Emergency Management and the Department of Health and Human Services.
In the past, AMCD had 5 substation facilities spread throughout the county but have since opened up one centrally located state of the art 18 acre facility. The new facility includes a large hanger, insectary, research laboratories, chicken houses, green houses, screen houses/tide pools for testing, apartments for visiting scientists to rent, a Gambusia fish breeding area and much more. Typically there is a public open house in June but this year unfortunately we were not able to do so due to Covid-19. We still can offer private tours for you or a group so please email me to set one up, I would love to show you around.
Currently, AMCD is in the 3 year process of becoming the first laboratory in the United States with a Good Labs Practices (GLP) certification. The GLP is a very prestigious merit that only a few organizations in the world can say they have achieved. AMCD is known worldwide as a leader in Mosquito Control and early in 2020, AMCD Director, Dr. Rudy Xue, was presented an award in the Netherlands by the World Health Organization (WHO) for his contributions in Mosquito Control worldwide. AMCD is one of the Environmental Protection Agency pesticide stewardship partners, promoting appropriate use of pesticides and the protection of environments since 2006.
AMCD is regarded as one of the best Districts and currently AMCD is the most cited District or mosquito program in the world. We host multiple conferences and meetings yearly that attract scientists and professionals from around the world bringing a positive economic impact to our county. We recently hosted the Florida Mosquito Control Association Conference. It is a yearly week of training, fellowship, Board meetings and vendor offerings. It was held at the Embassy Suites in St. Augustine Beach and over 500 people attended and booked up many of our hotels, filled up restaurants, visited our local shops and learned the powerful history of the longest European settlement in the United States.
I am so proud to be a part of the incredible team at AMCD and look forward to the future of AMCD, especially the Disease and Vector Educational Center we plan to open in 2022.