The vision of the Western Integrated Pest Management Center is a healthier West with fewer pests, and in 2017 we worked toward that goal through three main efforts – connecting, creating and communicating. The past year was also notable for our efforts in combatting invasive species.
Connecting People and Programs
As a regional program covering 17 Western states and territories, one of the Western IPM Center’s main responsibilities is connecting people across state, program and disciplinary boundaries. There were many examples in 2017.
One of the most interesting was expanding our signature program in measuring crop losses from pests and IPM adoption impacts. The previously Arizona-focused effort expanded into the Pacific Northwest, where onion and cranberry growers have already taken the detailed survey and growers of several other crops soon will. The data out of Arizona have been some of the strongest showing the environmental and economic benefits for growers who adopt IPM, and widely cited by U.S. Department of Agriculture officials and others. In the Pacific Northwest, the data is also being used to create and refine new pest management strategic plans, which establish pest management priorities for crops. It’s a very exciting combination.
The Western IPM Center has also connected two other regionally focused programs, the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program and the Western specialty crops pesticide program known as IR-4. Together, our three agencies are looking for ways to expand the availability and effectiveness of biopesticides in pest management and looking for other ways to collaborate.
We connected with several other programs as well, including the multiple Centers for Agriculture Health and Safety in the West and the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center. Western IPM Center Director Amanda Crump made presentations to new groups for us, including the North American Invasive Species Management Association and the Pacific Island Forestry Professionals Workshop. We introduced Western researchers to the Integrated Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education, known as iPiPE, and supported the successful efforts of all the Western States to acquire Extension Implementation Program funding for their state IPM programs.
Creating New IPM Resources
The Western IPM Center creates new IPM information and resources by doing research in-house or funding others through our annual grant program. Center Associate Director Matt Baur was prolific on the first count, contributing to a paper for the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology titled Crop Protection Contributions to Agricultural Productivity. He was also the lead author on a Center special report on Integrated Pest Management of Mosquitoes: A Case Study of West Nile Virus in California. In addition, the Center published a joint paper with the Western IR-4 program on Assessing Compatibility of a Pesticide in an IPM Program. Amanda continued working with other evaluation specialists on creating common measures to evaluate IPM program success nationwide, and the Center is also actively participating in regional project focused on pesticide risk reduction and risk communication.
On the funding front, we supported 10 new IPM projects in 2017, including three project initiation proposals, three outreach and implementation projects, three planning document grants and one work group. Applications for our 2018 grants, which we received in December 2017, were our highest ever, with 48 proposals for funding received from around the West.
Communicating IPM Needs and Benefits
The Western IPM Center communicates with multiple audiences in multiple ways, and in 2017 we prioritized communicating the benefits of IPM and the Regional IPM Centers to stakeholders in the West and Washington, D.C.
One way we communicate is gathering information to help inform regulatory decisions proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies. Our comment coordinators in Arizona, Oregon, Hawaii and California gather information on how pesticides under federal review are actually used by Western growers, which helps the EPA craft label restrictions that protect people and the environment while allowing for the critical uses of the products by Western growers. Comment Coordinator Al Fournier highlighted those efforts at the huge meeting of the American Chemical Society in August.
The Center also worked actively to educate policymakers on the benefits of integrated pest management and need for continued research funding. We visited elected officials’ offices in their home states and Washington, D.C., and spoke at listening sessions organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture to set priorities for that agency.
Our 2016 Annual Report—published in 2017—highlighted the ways the Western IPM Center adds value to state IPM programs and other regional efforts in the West.
Center Communication Coordinator Steve Elliott continued to visit different states in 2017, writing stories, taking photographs and producing videos about the variety of different ways IPM is needed and practiced in the vast and diverse West. He also continued to produce the very popular and award-winning Western IPM Center monthly newsletter and produced special editions about alkali bees in Washington state and threats to California’s oak forests from the gold spotted oak borer. He also began a survey of communication methods being used by other regional agriculture programs.
The Center ended 2017 by launching a new, fully responsive website at westernipm.org. Check it out!
Combatting Invasive Species
The Center was very active in 2017 in helping coordinate efforts against invasive species. A Center-funded work group on the South American palm weevil held a successful workshop and received outside funding to continue its work. We continued to assist efforts to combat the coconut rhinoceros beetle in the Pacific. We drew attention to the threats posed by the gold spotted oak borer and polyphagus shot hole borer. We were asked to prepare a letter on ways to enhance border inspections and security against invasive species by the office of Senator Kamala Harris, and those recommendations were shared at a California invasive species summit. Amanda served on the Western Governors Association Invasive Species Advisory Group and she and Steve attended and addressed the National Invasive Species Management Association meeting in Reno, Nevada.
It was a busy year.
To learn more, visit the Western IPM Center website, subscribe to our newsletter, or give us a call at (530) 750-1271.