Colorado
Here are summaries of some of the IPM research, innovations and projects going on in Colorado, or benefitting Colorado agriculture, communities and natural areas. Projects listed here are not necessarily funded by the Western IPM Center.
- Eco-Label Programs Promote IPM, but Aren't Perfect
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Eco-label programs have clear benefits and promote more sustainable pest-management and growing practices. They also provide certain benefits for growers but have downsides as well. Significant differences between the programs can make judging eco labels challenging for consumers, and with dozens of similar yet competing certification programs and standards, chaos is likely for the foreseeable future.
- Work Group Aims to Make New Endangered Species Rules Workable
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“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.
- Targeting Weed Seeds at Harvest
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As herbicide-resistant weeds become more common across the country, researchers and growers are looking for other ways to control weeds. In Colorado, they’re looking at harvest weed-seed control, IPM-friendly methods designed to destroy or remove weed seeds during harvest.
- Exploring a Fiery Method for Replacing Invasive Grasses
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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.
- Testing the Ecology of Fear in Colorado Chile Pepper Fields
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Tiny aphids are causing outsized losses for chile pepper growers in Colorado, even though the insects don’t feed on that particular crop and don’t linger in it. Instead, aphids move through chile fields after nearby alfalfa fields are cut, transmitting alfalfa mosaic virus to the pepper plants. The insects aren’t in the crop long enough for insecticides to be effective, and because the aphids don’t stay in chile fields, neither would the beneficial insects that eat them.
So Colorado State University graduate student Lara Amiri-Kazaz is researching something novel: fear.
- Group Educates Health Care Providers about Pesticide-Related Illnesses
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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.
- Evaluating Chaff Lining for Weed Control in Dryland Crops
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For weed scientists and growers, Western Australia is a cautionary tale. Herbicides failed, resistant weeds spread unchecked and non-chemical control methods had to be developed on the fly to keep the grain industry in business. As herbicide-resistant weeds spread in the United States, researchers are trying to adapt some of the lessons learned in Australia here at home, including harvest weed-seed control, before the situation gets as dire.
- IPM Experience is Helping Schools Plan for Reopening Amid COVID Concerns
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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.
- Looking for Answers as Kochia Rolls Across the West
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Kochia is a tumbling weed plaguing growers and ranchers from Central Canada to West Texas.
“It’s salt tolerant, heat tolerant, cold tolerant,” said Kent Davis, a crop consultant with Crop Quest in Colorado. “I want to kill the damn stuff, there’s no question about it, but you have to admire it at the same time.”
- Dropping the Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine Could Impact the West
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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.
- Preparing for the Invasion: Emerald Ash Borer in Colorado
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As part of its urban planning, the city of Denver recently asked residents what they wanted most in a revitalized downtown and they chose trees. It’s a shame so many of them are about to die.
- Feral Swine Wreak Havoc
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As pests go, wild pigs are huge – and hugely effective.
- Grazing Guidelines for Noxious Weed Control
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Researchers, ranchers, and land managers know that livestock grazing can be a valuable and selective noxious-weed management tool, and this guide summarizes all the effective techniques.
- Hill-Climbing Cows May Bring Big Benefits to Western Rangeland and Ranchers
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Conventional wisdom says cows don’t go up steep slopes. They don’t climb hills and don’t travel very far from water. But some cows never got that memo, and researchers are looking into whether naturally hill-climbing cows can provide production and environmental benefits in the rugged West.
- Protecting Kids from Pests and Pesticides by Promoting IPM in Schools
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Both pests and pesticides in schools can pose a health risk to children, so promoting IPM practices in schools is doubly important. That's why the Western IPM Center has been helping Western researchers develop regional resources and promote school IPM.
- IPM Curriculum for Elementary Students Creates InPESTigators
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How do you get teachers interested in integrated pest management? Turn IPM into a science curriculum they can use in their classrooms.
- School IPM Protects Kids from Pests and Pesticides
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Both pests and pesticides are potentially harmful for kids and adults in schools. Common schools pests like the German cockroach or mice can carry disease and cause allergic responses. And children can be more at risk for harm from sprayed pesticides because of their behavior – playing on the floor or in grassy fields, for instance – and because of their developing physiology.
- Progress against Onion Pests
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An update to the Pest Management Strategic Plan for dry bulb storage onions shows progress against thrips and Iris yellow spot virus, but still challenges to overcome.
- Center Funding Helps Develop a Better Way to Control Prionus Beetles
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Hop growers in the Northwest - as well as a sweet cherry, apple and other fruit growers around the nation - now have a new mating disruption tool to combat the Prionus beetle and its root-boring larvae, thanks to research funded in part by the Western IPM Center.
- Boosting Invasive Species Cooperation Using Zebra Chip as a Model
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When an invasive species is first detected in an area, the initial response is critical. Like with a cancer, the correct early detection and response can make a big difference in controlling the spread and severity of the outbreak.