NE PMC Insider
Internal newsletter of the Northeastern Pest Management Center.
Issue 9, March 2002
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NE PMC InsiderInternal newsletter of the Northeastern Pest Management Center. Issue 9, March 2002 |
Northeast
- NE PMC Annual Meeting 2002
- IPM Commodity Working Groups moving forward
- Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses in Delaware
- New York Information Network Project Update
- PRO New England now online
- PRO New England stakeholder meeting April 3
- Pennsylvania:
- Point of Purchase info at Garden Centers
- Kids, join the pest patrol
- NEREAP-IPM annual meeting
National
The annual meeting will be held at the Maritime Institute near Baltimore-Washington International Airport on March 12 - 14. Tentative schedule is as follows:
3/12: Steering Committee: Meet at 7:00 PM, check at the desk for which room. If you show up in time for dinner, it is included with your room. Please look for other members of the committee. The Steering Committee meeting is a closed session, and only the following steering committee members are expected to attend:
Ayers,Dill, Helsel, Hoffmann, Koethe, Morin, Murtagh, Rivas, Seem, VanKirk, Whalen
3/13 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM: Advisory Council,some Information Network Project Leaders and some IPM CWG leaders. Anyone associated with the Center is welcome to attend this open meeting.
We expect that all Advisory Council members will attend (some of you have schedule conflicts and have told us you cannot attend). In addition to the Steering Committee members mentioned above, Advisory Council members include:
Phil Benedict, Aubrey Davis, Annie Donnelly, Mike Fitzner, George Hamilton, Lebelle Hicks, Abbott Lee, Tracey Leskey, Edith Lurvey, Fred Magdoff, Luke McConnell, Audrey Moore, Ken Nicewicz, Jane Nogaki, Bill Pool, Dean Purnell, Marc Teffeau, John Wargo, Joellen Zeh
At least one leader from each IPM CWG has also committed to attending.
Jody gangloff , Ruth Hazzard, Mary Kay Malinoski , Curt Petzold, Peter Shearer, Paula Shrewsbury Keith waldron
Information network project leaders are strongly encouraged to attend if they can. At this point we're expecting to see the following:
George Good, Jack Baniecki, Monica Marcelli or Amy Brown, Kerry Richards, Susan Whitney
3/14 Information Network Project Leaders
8:00 AM Business meeting
10:00 AM Workshop: How to do Pest Management Strategic Plans
3/14 Northeastern Vegetable IPM Commodity Working Group
8:00 AM Business meeting
10:00 AM Workshop: How to do Pest Management Strategic Plans
Noon: Lunch together followed by meeting until 3:00 PM
The vegetable CWG will hold its inaugural meeting at the Maritime Institute outside Baltimore, MD on Thursday March 14.
The fruit CWG will hold its inaugural meeting at the Maritime Institute outside Baltimore, MD on Wednesday March 20.
GO-IPM, the greenhouse & ornamentals CWG, has developed a proposal to fund a survey of current pest management practices. This proposal will be acted upon by the Steering Committee next week.
February 7, 2002 Press Release from Audubon InternationalAudubon International announced today that Delaware is the first state to achieve 100% participation in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. In response to a challenge issued to the golf community this past year by Audubon International, the Delaware State Golf Association (DSGA) has moved to fully fund membership dues in the program for all courses in the state. The group plans to continue funding full participation each year and work with Audubon International to maximize the participation in the program.
"I offer my congratulations to the Delaware State Golf Association for taking such a wonderful leadership role in preserving our environmental future," stated Ronald Dodson, President and CEO of Audubon International. "For the over ten years the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses has clearly shown benefits to not only the natural environment, but to the people who are educated and changed by participating in it as well. It’s my hope that the initiative that the DSGA has taken will now be replicated in states and regions throughout the country. Full participation in the program nationwide may occur somewhere down the road, but at least today we’re one state closer to that goal."
The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses was launched in 1991 in conjunction with the United States Golf Association. Today, there are over 2,000 golf courses enrolled in the program. "Golf courses can offer a unique open space in the human landscape for wildlife to exist and thrive. Ongoing stewardship actions and education efforts lead to habitat protection, natural resource protection, as well as a reduction in the overall impact of golf management practices on the surrounding ecosystem," states Joellen Zeh, Staff Ecologist of Audubon International.
The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System (ACSS) educates and encourages landowners and land managers of existing properties to become actively involved in protecting and enhancing wildlife habitats and conserving and sustaining natural resources on their own properties. ACSS Programs designed for golf courses, schools, businesses, and backyards provide conservation assistance and educational support specific to the unique location, resources, and needs of each site.
Contact: Joellen Zeh, Staff Ecologist, Audubon International, 46 Rarick Road, Selkirk, NY 12158, Phone: (518)767-9051, Fax: (518)767-9076, Email: jzeh@audubonintl.org, Website: www.audubonintl.org
Submitted by George Good
Food Processing Sanitation and Pest Management: A Pest Manager's Recertification Workshop
Senior Extension Associate Ronald G. Gardner, Pesticide Management Education Program, Cornell University, organized and conducted a one-day pest management workshop for food sanitarians in Rochester, New York on February 12, 2002. Faculty in the Department of Food Science gave Ron some assistance in the planning and execution of this activity. Topics included Food Plant and Facility Inspections, Pest Management Issues in Food Facilities, Pesticide Regulatory Update, Integrated Management of Ants, Integrated Management of Flies in a Food Facility, Integrated Management of Rodents in a Food Facility, Update on Methyl Bromide and A Review of Alternatives (Grain Storage), Hazards of Phosphine and the New Worker Protection Standards, and Phosphine RED and Phosphine Management Plan. One hundred and sixty food sanitarians from various regions of New York State attended the program.How to Use PIMS Database to Determine Which Pesticides are Currently Registered in New York State
Senior Extension Associate, William Smith, Pesticide Management Education Program, Cornell University, gave a presentation to 80 agricultural producers on Long Island New York as part of a Worker Protection Training Initiative conducted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, New York. Primary focus was given to the use of the PIMS Database which is part of the Pesticide Management Education Program Website. The growers are particularly interested in this database because of their need to maintain an accurate inventory of pesticides in their possession. Any unregistered materials will be collected later in 2002 as part of a county-wide collection of such pesticides that will be disposed of via proper procedures.
(from the site:) The New England information network project is online now at http://www.pronewengland.org/. PRO New EnglandTM joins the web resources of the Universities of CT, MA, ME, NH, RI and VT with selected, useful web pages from the whole world.
Beyond improving access to existing resources, PRO New EnglandTM is creating new content.
Regionally specific pest management surveys and crop profiles will help regulatory agencies make realistic assumptions in their decisions.
Strategic plans will help the pest manager and research community identify current alternatives and priorities for progress.
Decision support models translate daily weather data from numerous New England locations into guidance for crop and pest management decisions.
PRO New England is also about connections between people: between New England's pest management practitioners, the public we serve, and regulatory agencies at the state and federal level.
Communication among ALL interested parties leads to better understanding and better decisions.
The New England Pest Management Center will hold its stakeholder feedback meeting at the Portsmouth Holiday Inn in Portsmouth, NH on April 3. For details, contact Glen Koehler.
from Kristie Auman-Bauer, PA IPM Program
Penn State's Pest Management Information Now Available at Retail Garden Outlets December 5, 2001
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Consumers are now able to find out how they can use fewer pesticides in their gardens and around their homes while shopping at their local garden centers and chain stores.
Free information on Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, and nutrient management from Penn State and other land grant universities is being distributed to county extension offices, county fairs, garden centers and other retailers, says Steve Bogash, Penn State Cooperative Extension Agent in Franklin County. IPM aims to control pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible. In the case of home plantings, proper plant variety selection and good site preparation can help avoid many future pest problems. The consumer needs this information at the time they are purchasing plants and planting them.Bogash, who is also the principle investigator of the project, says they received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) to assess the needs of garden centers in York and Franklin Counties and provide garden centers with 'point of purchase' information to advise consumers about proper IPM practices. Providing IPM educational materials to consumers where and when they buy plants or other garden materials will result in more informed consumer pest management decisions and decreased pesticide misuse. "Twenty-six garden centers, primarily in Franklin County, have been contacted about the program as have several garden centers in York County. Its clear from the results of the survey that garden center owners do see a need for homeowner education and are willing to distribute fact sheets for the Cooperative Extension office," says Bogash. "Also, garden center owners/managers are interested in employee IPM training."
Lana Adams, Home Horticulture/Consumer IPM Educator in Franklin County, talked to fair-goers at the York County Fair about insects, pest management and pesticide choice. She has also given a presentation on pesticide toxicity and least toxic methods of pesticide control to Franklin County Master Gardeners. Currently, Adams is rewriting some of Penn State's IPM publications so they better address homeowner concerns and to make them more reader-friendly. She will continue to rewrite and distribute IPM publications and recruit students for IPM employee training sessions.According to Bogash, the grant will fund the project for at least 15 months with the possibility of refunding. "Our long term goal is to turn this into a regional project and work with counties in Maryland as well. That way, the program will be eligible for additional federal funding through multi-state cooperation and will continue to grow," Bogash says.
For more information, you can contact Steve Bogash at (717) 263-9226 or email at smb13@psu.edu.
Now kids can join the "Tree Hole Mosquito Patrol" while "Wising up to Worms" with the Pennsylvania IPM Program's new publication, Join Our Pest Patrol. press release
TopThe Northeast Research, Extension and Academic Program Committee for IPM met at Newport, Rhode Island 2/26-28. A report on the meeting will be available soon. Among other items, the group agreed to revise future project limits on the Regional IPM Grants Program to $60,000 for single-state projects and $180,000 for multi-state projects.
TopEPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has recently released a document describing the Agency's policy for implementation of a section in the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) that directs the Agency to heighten protection for infants and children in setting pesticide tolerance levels. This document, the "Guidance Document on Determination of the Appropriate FQPA Safety Factor in Tolerance Assessment," refers to the section of FQPA that requires an additional safety factor, or greater protection, for infants and children. As well, this document is intended to increase the public's and regulated entities' understanding of OPP actions and provide guidance to the Agency's risk assessors to facilitate the implementation of the children's safety factor provision.
The Federal Register notice for the current document is available electronically at (http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2002/February/Day-28/p4793.htm). The paper is available at www.epa.gov/pesticides/trac/science/determ.pdf
On January 28, 2002, EPA released draft guidance on applying the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) safety factor in cumulative risk assessments. EPA will accept comments until April 29, 2002, according to procedures described in the Federal Register notice. The draft guidance will serve as a guide to risk assessors in the Office of Pesticide Programs to facilitate consistent implementation of the FQPA children's safety factor provision in cumulative risk assessment and to increase public understanding of cumulative risk assessments by regulated entities and the public. The draft guidance discusses the differences between single-chemical risk assessments and cumulative risk assessments that are relevant to application of both traditional uncertainty factors and the FQPA safety factor. It also provides an analytical framework for consideration of these factors and describes methods risk assessors would use in evaluating the applicability of the FQPA factor. Key issues to be reviewed are completeness of the toxicity database, potential pre- and post - natal toxicity, and adequacy of the exposure database. The draft guidance is available on EPA's web site (www.epa.gov/pesticides/trac/science/consid_draft.pdf), as is the Federal Register notice (http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2002/February/Day-28/p4794.htm)
A stakeholder's workshop on the "Pest Management Road Map" was held in Washington, D.C. February 21-22. The resulting draft document is available online to facilitate discussion.
NCR PMC Project leaders and IPM Coordinators from the region will meet together April 2-4 at the Kellogg Center on the Michigan State University Campus. Jim VanKirk has a draft agenda, or contact North Central IPM Facilitator Sue Ratcliffe.
The Senate Farm Bill is now available on the Thomas Website: thomas.loc.gov
To access the bill, you should search for H.R. 2646. The search tool will bring up several versions of the bill. The version passed by the Senate is the Senate Engrossed Amendment (H.R.2646.EAS) You can then download a text or pdf version of the bill. Beware, the whole bill is 1335 pages long.
The House and Senate staff have begun to meet on the bill. As of this time we do not have a schedule of when the various titles will be considered. Even the research title (Title VII) while relatively non-controversial contains many provisions which will have to be reconciled between the two versions. If you have any questions about a particular section of the bill please do not hesitate to ask.
Phil Schwab
Insider is sent to NE PMC Advisory Council members; NE PMC Information Network project leaders; NE PMC IPM Commodity Working Group members; IPM Coordinators in the Northeast; subscribers to PMC-L. Email Jim or Liz to offer submissions or suggest changes.
Jim VanKirk, Coordinator 315-787-2378 jrv1@cornell.edu
topJohn Ayers, Director 814-865-7776 (voice) email
Liz Thomas, Information Specialist 315-787-2626 egt3@cornell.edu
This page created March 4, 2002
Centers for Pest Management are sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture
This page developed and managed by Jim VanKirk, NE PMC Coordinator