Internal newsletter of the Northeastern Pest Management Center.
Issue 1, July 2001
In this Issue:
Welcome
Advisory Council First Meeting
Cranberry PMSP
Information Network Projects
IPM Commodity Working Groups
National
Contact us
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Welcome:
This is the first issue of the NE PMC Insider, our "in-house"
newsletter. We will use this to provide updates to all who are part of NE
PMC's formal structure:
* Information
Network project leaders and cooperators
* members
of the Steering Committee
* members
of the Advisory Council
* members
of IPM Commodity Working Groups.
We will try to keep it relatively short, and we will shoot for a new issue
each month. Distribution will be primarily via the internet. If you prefer
a printed or faxed copy, please contact Jim VanKirk or Liz Thomas (contact
information below).
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Advisory Council meeting:
The first
meeting of the Advisory Council was held May 30 in Albany, NY. Attendance
was very good, with 22 AC members and 8 IPM Commodity Working Group representatives
in addition to Center staff. This level of participation seems especially
good considering the poor timing.
The morning session dealt primarily with review of the development of pest
management centers in general and NE PMC in particular. Therese Murtagh (USDA/OPMP)
and Mike Fitzner (USDA/CSREES) reviewed background, history and political
context of pest management centers. Jim VanKirk and John Ayers described the
structure of NE PMC and its core objectives. An informal and wide-ranging
discussion of issues involving the Center ensued in the afternoon. Topics
included:
* "IPM"
and "pest management", is there a threat to formula funds?
*
role and organization of IPM Commodity Working Groups
*
uses of crop profiles
*
how much Center emphasis should be on pesticide issues?
*
size and diversity of the Advisory Council
*
challenges for NE PMC.
The next
meeting will be in the Baltimore area during January, 2002.
AC members
who came to the meetings received resource notebooks. Those of you who were
unable to attend should receive notebooks in the mail any day now.
You can
access a report on the meeting with supporting documents (including the AC
roster) online at http://neipmc.org/ac/May01/report.html . Contact
Liz Thomas or Jim if you need a printed copy.
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Cranberry PMSP:
NE PMC
will be undertaking it's first Pest Management Strategic Plan August 16 and
17 in Providence, RI. The PMSP we develop will have a national scope, so growers,
researchers and others from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan and the Pacific
Northwest will participate. The Western and North Central Centers are supporting
this project by picking up travel costs for participants from their regions.
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Information Network Projects:
Seven
information network projects were funded by NE PMC. Over the course of the
next three years, all will develop communications networks and undertake some
combination of pest management tactic surveys, crop profiles and pest management
strategic plans. Project leaders are:
*
Delaware: Susan Whitney, U. Del.
*
Maryland: Amy Brown, U. Maryland
*
New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT): Jim Dill, University of Maine, Orono
*
New Jersey: George Hamilton, Rutgers
*
New York: George Good, Cornell
*
Pennsylvania: Robert Weaver, Penn St.
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IPM Commodity Working Groups:
We have recruited leaders for 6 CWGs, and they in turn will work with
NE PMC staff to recruit membership. Two budgetary adjustments are favorable
for the CWGs: each will now be able to hold an annual meeting, and we have
developed a very small pool of funds that CWGs can access to address critical
priorities. Each CWG will have about 12 members; if you know of someone who
should be on a particular CWG, please contact the CWG leader. Leaders are:
*
Community: Reg Coler, U. Massachusetts & Mary Kay Malinoski, U. Maryland
*
Field crops, forage and livestock: Dennis Calvin, Penn St. and Keith Waldron,
Cornell
*
Fruit: Dave Handley, U. Maine & Peter Shearer, Rutgers
*
Ornamentals Production: Paula Shrewsbury, U. Maryland and Margaret Skinner,
U. Vermont
*
Public health IPM: Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, Cornell
*
Vegetables: Ruth Hazzard, U. Massachusetts & Curt Petzoldt, Cornell
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National:
The Western Region PMC has scheduled a workshop to provide an opportunity
for agricultural stakeholders to communicate various pest management tactics,
issues and concerns within the western United States. This meeting is targeted
toward growers, commodity groups, university/college researchers and extension
personnel, USDA funded programs (IPM, Sustainable Agriculture and others).
For more on the workshop scheduled in Reno Aug. 28 and 29, check the WRPMC
website http://www.wrpmc.ucdavis.edu
The national Pest Management Center website provides a great deal of
information on many aspects of pest management. Access it at www.ipmcenters.org . You can get to any regional
Center site from there, or go directly to the Northeastern PMC site at http://nepmc.org/
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Contact Us:
Coordinator
(that's the digit 1 after the v, not the letter L!).
Information Specialist Liz Thomas:
Director
John Ayers: