TO:

TO: Regional Pest Management Center Directors:

John Ayers Norm Neisheim Larry Olsen

Michael Gray Rick Melnicoe Frank Zalom

Michael Hoffmann Russ Mizell

FR: Dennis D. Kopp

CSREES Liaison to Regional Centers

Michael Fitzner

CSREES IPM Program Leader

RE: Future Development of Regional Pest Management Centers

The FY 2000 request for proposals for Pest Management Centers stated that the four regional pest management centers funded in FY 2000 Awill be instrumental in creating a regional process that will evolve into Agroecological Pest Management Centers in

FY 2003, based upon agroecologically defined crop production regions@ and required the four Centers to Afacilitate an interactive process designed to identify appropriate boundaries for agroecological pest management areas in the United States.@

Regional pest management center directors have facilitated discussions about the future role and configuration of Centers. We have followed these discussions closely. Center Directors and members of the National IPM Steering Committee engaged in a discussion on this topic at a joint meeting held September 25-26, 2001. A key question in this discussion was AShould pest management centers be reconfigured into 8-12 agroecosystem regions in FY 2003?@. Based on discussions at this meeting and other discussions within USDA and EPA, we believe that there are probably more viable options than a reconfiguration of current pest management centers into agroecosystem regions.

While there is merit to the organization of research and education efforts along agroecological boundaries, there are fiscal, political and time barriers that would be difficult to overcome. In our opinion, these barriers make reconfiguration into agroecosystem centers impractical at this time. The barriers that have been identified include:

! Administrative Costs. The estimated cost of staffing and maintaining a functional pest management center is approximately $300,000 per year. It would require an additional $2.4 million to cover the administrative costs associated with an increase from four to twelve regional centers.

! Coordination Challenges. A core function of pest management centers is to facilitate a two-way information network connecting the Department of Agriculture and regulatory agencies with pest management expertise and information available at the regional and state levels. From the federal standpoint, 8-12 regional center points-of-contact would be more cumbersome to work with.

! Organizational Challenges. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to build a consensus on a reconfiguration based on agroecological regions. This is the result of technical issues as well as state, institutional and programmatic rivalries that are difficult to overcome. These factors would make the development of a ARequest for Applications@ for a national competitive grants process very difficult. Several potential problems are envisioned, including the identification of agroecosystem boundaries, the potential for overlap, and the potential for areas to be omitted.

! Links to Multistate Efforts. A major portion of CSREES= partnership effort is focused through the four existing administrative regions. These administrative regions benefit from the support and leadership provided by the land-grant university system. Agroecological regions would not build upon existing programs and structures, thus making partnership efforts more cumbersome.

We propose the following points to guide the further development of regional pest management centers:

1. CSREES will continue to support a regional pest management initiative facilitated by centers located at four host institutions, one in each of the four administrative regions (North Central, Northeastern, Southern, Western). CSREES will select the four host institutions through a process consistent with legislative intent of funding lines. It is expected that minimally there will be one full-time person at each center supported by federal funds.

2. The formation and coordination of a pest management information network will continue to be a core function of regional pest management centers.

3. Regional pest management centers will have a primary role in the facilitation and formation of research and extension teams and coalitions to address priority pest management needs at an appropriate level C agroecosystem, multistate, regional, or national. Centers will encourage the formation of teams of state/territory participants around shared multistate or regional issues and high priority stakeholder-identified needs and problems. Team formation will connect to existing regional administrative structures and in conjunction with multi-state research and extension committees or, if no multi-state effort exists, as a new initiative. Teams may develop at the regional level but should not be confined to the states in a given region. Teams should not be considered permanent entities, but should have a defined life-cycle. There should be great flexibility in the way teams are configured, their life-span, and the issues and commodities that they address.

4. Regional pest management centers will form strong connections to regional administrative structures (e.g., executive directors, land-grant administrative associations/structures, multistate committees, etc.). Centers will be expected to engage these structures to identify and develop a coordinated response to priority stakeholder needs and to facilitate effective utilization of federal and other resources to address those needs.

5. CSREES and pest management centers will ask participating universities to designate a single point-of-contact to facilitate communication regarding pest management issues on and external to campus. Participating universities will also be encouraged to form cross-program pest management advisory committees to strengthen within-state cooperation and coordination for plant protection programs.

6. Regional pest management centers will not be made of Abricks and mortar@; rather, they will serve a facilitating, coordinating and leadership function for pest management issues. The staff associated with pest management centers will be housed at host institutions.

7. CSREES will explore the feasibility of modifying the funding authorization to provide for more stability in the pest management center/host institution network than is provided by a three-year grant cycle.

The points outlined here represent the first step in an evolutionary process to move regional pest management centers to their next level of functionality and into the funding cycle that begins October 1, 2002. We believe these points are consistent with our collective vision for pest management centers, and provide for the continued evolution of this regionally-focused pest management initiative. As we continue with this partnership effort, it will be useful to keep in mind that this is a work in progress C there is not a specific template to guide us as we design pest management centers.

In our view, continuing with four regional pest management centers will minimize administrative costs, thus making more dollars available to focus on regional programmatic issues and needs. Four centers should be better able to facilitate the formation of teams and coalitions to address stakeholder-identified needs by linking with existing regional administrative and programmatic structures.

We believe regional pest management centers provide an important mechanism for enhancing leadership, coordination, and management of USDA=s pest management programs, as recommended by the Government Accounting Office in its recent report on USDA=s integrated pest management programs. We also believe it is essential that we, as a partnership, respond to GAO=s recommendation that measurable goals and expected outcomes be identified for the pest management research and education effort. The draft document titled ANational Road Map for Pest Management@ is the start of an effort to accomplish this at the national level. We encourage you to carefully review the road map and send us your comments and suggestions regarding how it can be improved.

Thank you for the tremendous progress you have made in establishing regional pest management centers. Your participation is essential as we continue development of this regional pest management initiative. CSREES will continue listening to you and working with you to further develop regional pest management centers and address the needs of the stakeholders of our research and education community. We welcome your input into this ongoing process.