Western Integrated Pest Management Center

“If it’s so complex that it’s impossible, then no one wins.”

That was the key takeaway from a recent two-day workshop in Vancouver, Washington about implementing new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide-use rules to protect endangered and threatened species.

The easiest pest to manage is the one that’s not there. It’s true for any pest type – destructive insects, hungry rodents or fast-spreading weeds. No management technique is more effective or less costly than preventing that pest from becoming established in a new area to begin with.

That’s why prevention and avoidance are first two principles of integrated pest management’s “PAMS Approach,” with monitoring and suppression following behind. It’s also the rationale behind the Plant Risk Evaluator Tool, an online database to evaluate the potential for ornamental and horticultural plants to become invasive weeds in different areas and environments

Safflower, a low-value oil seed crop, is the key to an incredibly successful soil health and areawide integrated pest management program in California — and a great illustration of how IPM works. 

In California and throughout the West, land managers face huge challenges on huge acreage. Threats include invasive annual grasses, drier summers and changing fire regimes. And those threats combine – the invasive grasses outcompete native perennial grasses and become flash fuels that exacerbate wildfires in landscapes already at risk of burning. 

To combat the combined threat, UC Davis researchers are testing a burn-and-replant method as a combined solution.

During wildfires, crew use bulldozers to cut firebreaks to remove vegetation and prevent the fire from spreading. It's effective firefighting, but those bulldozer lines can have lasting impacts on the recovery of vegetation afterward. New research is measuring those impacts and developing mitigations.

Barn owls are big, beautiful biocontrol.

“Barn owls are rodent-killing machines,” said Sara Kross, an assistant professor in environmental studies at Sacramento State University. “They are natural predators of gophers and voles which can be really horrible pests for agriculture.”

This report documents integrated pest management improvements in the strawberry industry by comparing pest management strategic plans from 2003 and 2021, including adaptations to the myth bromide ban, newer insecticides that better align with IPM principles and technological advances including bug vacuums.

With the West in a state of permanent drought and under constant threat of wildfires, it’s more important than ever for land managers to control undesirable vegetation. For fire-prone communities scattered throughout the West’s tinder-dry hills and woods, it can be a matter of life and death. One tool that can help manage vegetation is grazing.

Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative-Medical produces educational materials and resources on pesticides,  specifically targeting health care providers so they can recognize, treat and report pesticide-related illnesses.

Biting stable flies cause dairy cows to bunch tightly together in a defensive behavior, stressing the cows and reducing milk production. A multi-disciplinary team in California is measuring the impact and working to develop an IPM program to protect the cows and benefit producers.

Start with a heaping helping of weeds in an orchard owned by an electrical engineer, then add in a weed scientist and a dash of Western IPM Center funding. What you get is electric weed control – a promising (dare we say shocking?) new way to control weeds in certain landscapes.

As students return to classrooms in the fall of 2020, coronavirus is very much on people’s minds. In the West, having an IPM program in place seems to be helping schools plan for reopening.

During wildfires, crew use bulldozers to cut firebreaks to remove vegetation and prevent the fire from spreading. It's effective firefighting, but those bulldozer lines can have lasting impacts on the recovery of vegetation afterward. This video examines new research that is measuring those impacts and developing mitigations.

The U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed lifting the domestic quarantine designed to slow the spread of emerald ash borer, an action that could speed the destructive insect’s introduction into Western states that have so far kept it at bay.

There is a lot of fear about bed bugs, and a stigma surrounding them that can keep some people from seeking help with a bed bug infestation. But bed bugs have been hanging around humans for a long time and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

Barn owls are rodent-killing machines - natural predators of gophers and voles and other rodent pests of agriculture. This video looks at new research helping growers use both the owls and chemicals, in concert and safely.

As pests go, wild pigs are huge – and hugely effective.

Forrest Gump believed life was like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get inside. It’s much the same for graduate student Danielle Martinez, except she isn’t reaching for tasty chocolates. She’s digging into coyote stomachs as part of a larger research effort studying urban wildlife in Southern California.