October 6th Coalition Meeting

We had our fourth IPM coalition meeting of 2010 yesterday. We were joined by OPS and LPS, as well as EPA, UNL Extension, tribal, Nebraska Department of Ag, and pest management professional representatives.

Our guest speaker was Tom Green, who is president of the IPM Institute in Madison, WI. He discussed details about the process for a school to become IPM Star Certified, including maintaining records, working with the PMP to use IPM methods rather than routine spray applications, and generally controlling pests such as cockroaches and mice and improving conducive conditions to discourage pests. The IPM Star certification includes an on-site visit from a 3rd party professional who evaluates the school and provides them with a written list of recommendations. The school then addresses any deficiencies the evaluator has noted and contacts the IPM Institute for certification. Schools must score 70% on the evaluation to be certified, and certification lasts for 3 years. It must be renewed with a follow up visit after that time.

Tom also talked about Green Shield certification, which is an IPM Star approach to certifying pest management professionals. For more information about IPM Star and Green Shield, visit http://ipmstar.org and http://www.greenshieldcertified.org/providers/

After Tom's presentation, we discussed the August in-service presentations Clyde, Barb, Stephen and I did for LPS and OPS (custodial and/or food service staff), the second visits (Sept 9 for OPS and Sept 23 for LPS) and the planned third demonstration visits (Dec 9 for OPS and Feb 2, 2011 for LPS) Additional IPM and pest (bed bug) training are slated for November 11 (IAQ group) and November 19 (Infection Control group) for LPS.

Mike Daniels then gave a brief overview of the Healthy Tribal Communities training that was held in Sioux City. He said there were 32 attendees and he felt it was a success.

Coalition meetings for next year have been set: Feb 7/8 (Urban Pest Management conference), April 27, July 27, and Oct 26. There was discussion about possibly having half day educational events rather than the two hour meetings we have been doing. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach, so we'll be evaluating coalition member thoughts and suggestions before making a decision.

Bed bugs were also a topic of discussion (when is it not these days, especially with New York City practically overrun and many other places not far behind!).Barb mentioned that she and Clyde will be giving three bed bug workshops for landlords in October and November. Oct 20 will be in Lincoln, Nov 15 in Grand Island, and November 17 in Omaha. See http://ianrnews.unl.edu/static/1010040.shtml for sign up information. As part of the training (at the Omaha and Lincoln location), they will be featuring Spots, a bed bug sniffing dog owned by James and Amy Pelowski in Lincoln. To learn more about Spots' services, check out their website, K-9 BedBug Detection at http://www.k9bedbugdetect.com/ .