The 2017 IPM Achievement Awards

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The 2017 Awardees are:

Citrus Research Board Joint Agency Biological Control Task Force

In 2010, The Citrus Research Board (CRB) established a task force to help tackle an invasive insect pest called Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), a serious threat to the $3 billion California citrus industry. The pest, which is as small as a grain of rice, can infect backyard citrus trees (and potentially commercial orchards) with a bacteria that causes a serious plant disease called Huanglongbing, HLB, or citrus greening disease. There is no cure for this disease, which is always fatal to trees. Instead of relying solely on conventional pesticides to fight this insect pest, the CRB Joint Agency Biological Control Task Force developed a program, in 2010, to harness the use of natural predators as a means for managing the spread of ACP. The Task Force has imported from Pakistan, raised and released a parasitic wasp–Tamarixia radiata–that feeds on ACP. This biocontrol program was the first to successfully target and reduce ACP populations in urban areas and citrus orchards while replacing large-scale, pesticide-driven campaigns in sensitive urban sites. This multi-agency project has been successful in Imperial, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties among others. The award categories are for innovation and leadership.

More information is available at https://citrusresearch.org/ or by contacting:
Carolina Evangelo, Director of Communications
Phone: (559) 738-0246
Email: carolina@citrusresearch.org

Hines Landscaping San Francisco

Four horticultural professionals managing the interiorscapes and outdoor gardens in San Francisco make up Hines Landscaping San Francisco. In the 1990's, Hines Landscaping began transitioning to sustainable landscaping practices in an effort to reduce its chemical footprint. One successful tactic has been to feed plants a compost tea instead of synthetic fertilizers. To achieve this, the company developed its own vermiculture program, where worms are fed green waste and restaurant scraps from their buildings. The resulting compost tea applied to indoor plants has helped to reduce the number of insects and mites that are attracted to interiorscapes. Today, Hines Landscaping manages its pest flare-ups with plant washes, hand wiping, and very few chemicals. Its outdoor gardens contain native and drought-tolerant plants chosen to reduce pests while supporting pollinators and beneficial insects. In addition, Hines Landscaping hosts several tours of its gardens and facilities annually to share their innovative pest management practices. Tour attendees include schoolchildren, college students and professional groups. Encouraged by the Hines parent company, Hines Landscaping speaks to other building managers at workshops and forums worldwide to share their innovative pest management practices. The award category is for leadership.

More information is available by contacting:
Shirley Vaughan, Horticulture Manager
Phone: (415) 398-8655
Email: shirley.vaughan@hines.com

Manteca Unified School District Operations Department

The Operations Department of Manteca Unified School District has helped to improve field conditions for student athletes while reducing the amount of chemical pesticides it uses to tackle the pests that can destroy fields. These pests include gophers, insects and weeds on school landscaping areas and athletic fields. The department maintains almost 700 acres of property at 29 schools. In 2014, gophers were an increasing problem with proliferating mounds on the athletic fields. This led to a worrying situation for student athletes and increasing reports of injuries suffered from gopher holes and uneven landscapes. Rather than increase the amount of pesticides applied, the Operations Department adjusted its gopher management strategy and started a large-scale gopher-trapping program. By 2016, the Operations Department had cut the number of gopher-targeted pesticide applications in half from their 2014 peak use and eliminated pesticide use for gopher management in 2017. An added bonus was that the money saved by switching to the trapping program was re-invested into repairing athletic fields district-wide. The Operations Department willingly shares its success story with their school community and other school districts throughout the state. The award category is for leadership.

More information is available by contacting:
John A. Lopez, Supervisor of Grounds & IPM Coordinator
Phone: (209) 858-0712
Email: jlopez@musd.net

Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District

The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District protects the public from public health pests on private and public properties such as residential homes, golf courses, parks, rights-of-way, and schools. Pests range from the red imported fire ant to disease-bearing mosquitoes and destructive roof rats. Between 2014 and 2015, Orange County experienced a period of increased West Nile Virus infections and detected invasive Aedes mosquitoes–a pest that can potentially cause an outbreak of West Nile virus, Zika, dengue fever or other mosquito-borne diseases. In response to this health issue, the District coordinated a campaign to improve communication and community engagement, increase risk awareness, and reduce source populations rather than relying solely on synthetic pesticides to battle mosquitoes. The campaign included door-to-door teams that inspect properties for mosquito larvae and educate residents about draining standing water to reduce breeding locations for the pest. From 2015 to 2017, the door-to-door teams inspected more than 40 thousand properties. The reported cases of West Nile Virus have decreased since 2015 due to the focused outreach and IPM efforts of the District. The award category is for education and outreach.

More information is available at https://www.ocvector.org or by contacting: Lora Young, Director of Communications Phone: (714) 971-2421 Email: lyoung@ocvcd.org

If you would like to find out more about IPM or the IPM Achievement Awards Program, you can contact:

For content questions, contact:
Michelle Andreetta
1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4015
Sacramento, CA 95812-4015
Phone: (916) 324-4245
E-mail: school-ipm@cdpr.ca.gov