Bernie Montás
•8/24/2026
The Lee County Mosquito Control District is repurposing a kind of technology to locate mosquito breeding grounds, improving efficiency and cutting operating costs. The Light Detection and Ranging system, or LiDAR, is helping the agency identify mosquito-producing areas that go undetected by traditional scanning methods. Don Claytor, mapping coordinator for Lee County Mosquito Control, has worked with the agency for 28 years and is now utilizing the advanced technology to enhance mosquito control efforts. "I'm second generation — my father also worked here and retired, and I just kind of always been interested in computers and anything technology-wise," Claytor said. "It gave us a much more effective way of treating the mosquitoes. We found areas that we didn't realize producing areas, mosquito-producing areas." LiDAR uses lasers to create 3-D maps of the Earth's surface with a margin of error of just two centimeters. In Lee County, which has more salt marsh than five counties combined on Florida's east coast, this level of detail is critical. Aaron Lloyd, executive director of Lee County Mosquito Control, said the idea to use LiDAR came to him unexpectedly. "I was watching a television show called Expedition Unknown and just trying to relax at home," Lloyd said. His thoughts quickly turned to mosquito control. "My first thought was, I wonder if we could find mosquito habitat, like cryptic mosquito habitat that we're not aware of, using LiDAR," Lloyd said. Since January, the agency has scanned about 519,000 acres of land, more than half the size of Lee County. "We're treating only areas that need it. We don't have to treat anything that's not breeding and has water in it," Claytor said. Lloyd expects the $250,000 investment to save money over time. On one island along the Caloosahatchee River, treatments were cut in half, saving taxpayers $15,000 annually. "I anticipate that in less than five years we have the LiDAR paid for with our initial investment and then start truly saving money beyond that," Lloyd said. He emphasized the importance of innovation in mosquito control. "You can never be okay with where you're at. You should always be innovative," Lloyd said. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.
