Tuesday, November 25, 2014

School IPM 2015 Newsletter: November 2014



School IPM 2015: Reducing Pest Problems and Pesticide Hazards in Our Nation's Schools
School IPM 2015 Newsletter: November 2014
In This Issue
What's New?
Highlights
Upcoming Events
Spiders
EPA Recognizes Two Indiana Schools for Model IPM Programs
IPM Curriculum Workshop at October NSTA Conference
News From the 2014 ESA Meeting
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What's New This Month

The organizers of the 8th International IPM Symposium are accepting nominations for IPM Achievement Awards recognizing outstanding work in IPM implementation. Any one may nominate individuals, organizations or business and self-nomination is allowed. The deadline for nomination is December 1, 2014. Find more information and nomination applications here. Share your IPM work at the 8th International IPM Symposium, March 23-26, 2015. Posters will be organized by the six symposium tracks: agronomic and row crops; fruit, nut and specialty crops; general agriculture; rangeland/natural and urban landscapes; urban, structural, and school and vegetable crops. Find more details about the content and design of posters here. The deadline for online submission of poster abstracts that contain an accurate summary of the work is Monday, January 5, 2015.


Highlights

New 2013-2014 NYS IPM Annual Review
This year's Annual Report of the New York State IPM program highlights some innovative new tools and approaches to pest management for the northeast and beyond. The update included stories on their new app, Pocket IPM: Greenhouse Guide, to help track pest populations and recommend control measures, high usage of their IPM Organic Guides, dealing with pests in sweet corn production, and the dangers of spotted wing drosophila. Read the whole report here.

February Urban Pest Management Conference Brochure Released
University of Nebraska Extension distributed a brochure outlining key speakers, major topics, and registration information for the Urban Pest Management (UPM) Conference, February 10-11, 2015 in Lincoln, NE. The preregistration rate of $150 will apply to registrations postmarked by January 27th after which the rate increases to $170.  





Upcoming Events
March 24-26, 2015
8th International IPM Symposium  
Salt Lake City, UT   
More Information

 April 2, 2015
Turfgrass IPM Workshop  
Santa Maria, CA    
 More Information 
April 6-8, 2015
2015 Imported Fire Ant and Invasive Pest Ant Conference   
New Orleans, LA    
 More Information


Quick Links
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Spiders 
The word alone is enough to evoke shudders of fear and revulsion in many. Of the 35,000 plus spider species worldwide however, only a handful are problematic to humans. Spiders are beneficial animals, providing important ecological services including capturing and devouring pests. In the US, species occasionally causing problems for humans include the black widow, the brown recluse and the hobo spiders, which can deliver painful bites. If any of these three spiders are present in your area, make sure students and staff can identify them, know simple strategies to avoid bites and know what to do if a bite occurs.

Black Widow Spiders   

Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series
Bugwood.org
Only female black widows can inflict harmful bites. These spiders have a ½ inch or larger, shiny black body and a red hourglass design on the  underside of their abdomen. They spin distinctive webs that are irregular and tangled with a tunnel  in the center. Webs are usually in low, undisturbed corners with minimal exposure to sunlight. Female black widows do not stray far from their webs and are shy, only biting when trapped. Black widow spiders are found in warm climates in the US.

A related species, the brown widow, was introduced into the southern US in the last century, and now occurs in Gulf states, Southern California and Hawaii. The bite of the brown widow is typically not harmful to humans.

Brown Recluse Spiders      
Ward Upham, Kansas State
University, Bugwood.org 
These spiders have long thin legs with an oval abdomen, ¾ to 1 ¼ inches long overall. They range in color from light to dark brown, and have a violin-shaped mark on the top of the "cephalothorax", the body segment containing the eyes and legs. These spiders are shy and generally run away from humans. They leave their webs to hunt, sometimes leading them to take shelter in clothes, other fabrics or toys left on the floor. Bites usually occur when people handle these items without thoroughly shaking them first.   

Brown recluse are found in the warmers states between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountain chains, as far north as Missouri and Southern Illinois. They may be one of the most misidentified arachnids and arachnid bites. Studies by now-retired entomologist Rick Vetter show only a small proportion of spiders and bites identified as brown recluse were accurate.

Hobo Spiders     
Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org
Hobo spiders are up to 1 ¾ inches in length, with brown hairy bodies. Their oval-shaped abdomens have darker markings than the rest of the body. They build funnel-shaped webs in moist, dark places usually close to the ground or in basements. Like all of the spiders profiled here; they mainly cause harm to humans when trapped in clothing or bedding next to skin.

Hobo spiders are found throughout the Pacific Northwest including parts of Idaho, and western Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

IPM
IPM for spiders focuses on removal and prevention. Regular vacuuming, including under and around furniture, will reduce spider numbers. Avoid clutter both indoors and outside of buildings to reduce habitat. Sticky insect monitors placed under and behind furniture and equipment can be used to monitor and reduce spider numbers.

To reduce spider bites, handle objects that may harbor spiders carefully. Don't place your hands where you can't see what you are touching, or wear gloves when moving objects that have been sitting on the floor or ground.

If these potentially harmful species are common in your area, store shoes, clothing and other items off the floor and out of bottoms of closets. If a spider bites someone, keep the victim calm and call a doctor. Try to trap the spider, keep its remains, take a picture and/or note its description, as identification can be helpful in treating the wound.

Spiders can be trapped by placing a cup over the spider and sliding a sheet of paper or cardboard underneath. Deposit harmless spiders outside. Potentially harmful species can be killed by placing them in a freezer.

Though painful, bites are typically only a serious health threat for very young, elderly or ill individuals, or people with high blood pressure. Read more in Chapter 15 of the EPA's IPM Manual.  

To view a great resource for spider identification, click here for guide developed by Gerry Wegner of Varment Guard Environmental Services, with support from BASF.
   
EPA Recognizes Two Indiana Schools for Model IPM Programs
In October, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township and Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation for their success in implementing IPM. Jim Jones, the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention of the EPA, personally visited both school districts along with other EPA staff.

Both districts were part of a program funded by a 2014 EPA PestWise Grant to Michigan State University to improve IPM in schools in Michigan and Indiana. The program provided training to demonstration schools in undeserved areas. The Mooresville school district reported in a press release that they had "reduced pesticide use by 90% and at the same time have drastically reduced the number of pest sightings."The EPA recognition provides positive reinforcement for the IPM message and promotes these school districts as positive models of IPM implementation. Read more on page 11 of the Fall edition of PESPWire. 
IPM Curriculum Workshop at October NSTA Conference in Richmond     
Last month, Dr. Tom Green, who directs both the IPM Institute of North America and the Entomological Foundation, facilitated an IPM workshop to a group of 40 teachers at the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) Conference in Richmond, VA. The workshop split participating teachers into two groups: those with little experience with insects in the classroom, and those with some training and/or experience.

The beginners worked with a curriculum for grades 4-6 "What Do I Have Here?" that involved students collecting insect samples and bringing them into the classroom for observation, study and identification. These teachers worked with preserved insect specimens to complete the curriculum.

The experienced group focused on a curriculum for 9-12 graders called "Anyone's Town" which used Rachel Carson's Silent Spring as a basis for discussion of pests, pesticide use and IPM. For more information on sessions held at this conference, click here.

News From the 2014 ESA Meeting       
Entomological Foundation Teacher Workshop
The Foundation's mission is to excite young people about science through insects! Much like the IPM Curriculum workshop mentioned above that took place at the NAST conference, the Foundation hosted a teacher workshop on Saturday, November 15th in conjunction with the
Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. Three separate sessions were presented to 18 educators and student teachers with a focus on K-12 insect curricula. Participants were invited to come and learn from experts how to use insects in the classroom to educate young people about science and get them excited about entomology!

The three sessions and presenters included:
A Classroom InPestigation presented by Carrie Foss, Washington State University, Urban IPM Director;  Insects in the Classroom presented by Katie Dana and Christina Silliman, graduate students at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana; and Exploring Insect Biology: Targeted Collecting presented by Melissa Scherr, Northwest Entomological Research Center. To learn more about the Teacher Workshop,  click here. The event would not be possible without our wonderful volunteers, sponsors and donors. Thank you for supporting the Foundation!
 
School IPM  
Stop Schools Pests is a National Standard Training Program for schools staff including: nurses, teachers, custodians, maintenance staff, facility managers, pest management professionals, administrators and grounds staff. Learning modules will be made available for online and in-person training use. An exam/quiz will be offered for individuals interested in earning a certification/certificate. To view the Stop School Pests poster, which made an appearance at this year's meeting, click here.

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