Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Annual meeting of WERA 1017

5/29/2013

Fort Collins, CO

1. Welcome and Introductions

Outgoing chair Dr. Deborah Young opened the meeting at 1 pm with a welcome and self-introduction.

2. Comments and updates    

a. WERA-1017 administrative business - Tom Holtzer, Colorado State Univ.

The main message is that regional committees are well received at Washington DC. The committee plays important roles in coordinating IPM activities in the west and that is well recognized. He discussed several topics including the new structure for western IPM Center where University of California, Oregon State University, and the University of Arizona will led the center efforts. Kassim Al-Khatib, University of California is the PI on the USDA/NIFA WIPMC grant and he will have some direct involvement in supervising and management of the center. The center has hired new Director and associate director to manage activities and grants. Dr. Holtzer also indicated the EIPM program is stable and the program funding should continue in the upcoming three years. Furthermore, he shared his concern that federal sequestration may have negative impact of IPM programs, resources and funding. Dr. Holtzer remaindered the group to write report for this year activity.

b. USDA NIFA and RIPM Program updates – Bob Nowierski

Dr. Nowierski provided general view of the RIPM program and the challenges the program faced to release the RFA on time. There was delay in RIPM announcement due to the attempt to streamline grant process that impacts the RIPM project starting date. There was a concern from committee that the delay had negative impact on projects and the committee encouraged NIFA to avoid the delay in the next year.

c. USDA NIFA and E-IPM Program updates – Dr. Marty Draper, National Program Leader

Dr. Draper acknowledged that the multi-state committee reports (such as that from WERA-1017) are used by NIFA every year as a source of reporting impacts within and for responding to congressional information requests. Dr. Draper summarized the impact of federal sequestration on NIFA work and how it affected the budget line and EIPM funding. The overall budget reduction for the agency is 15%; however, the reduction for Smith-Lever IPM is only 8%. USDA/NIFA is coordinating their efforts to avoid any duplication and increase efficiency so grant funding would not be affected. Dr. Draper also shared with the committee the progress to review and award EIPM proposals. He expected that in June he will make award notifications. He also shares with the committee the progress to approve the crop protection one-line budget item. If that is approved then it will be 30% overhead on EIPM proposals.

Dr. Draper encourage all PIs on the EIPM projects to submit no cost extension if they have items in their projects that are no completed. He shared with the committee the process and limitations for no cost extension. If the state completed the project and not asking for no cost extension then the PI need to submit final report. In addition, Dr. Draper discussed with the committee the new NIFA reporting system and encourages everyone to get familiar with the new system.

d. WIPM Center & WRIPM Grant Program updates – Jim Farrar, UC ANR

Several handouts were distributed showcasing the work of the Western IPM Center. Dr. Farrar introduced himself as the new WIPMC Director. He also showed the new structure of WIPMC and how California, Oregon, and Arizona will lead the project. It is a new model to manage the center. He also introduced his new associate director (Dr. Carla Thomas) and the center new writer (Steve Elliott). In addition, he shared with the community the available UCIPM resources that benefits IPM Community through the west. There was also extensive concern and discussion about the delay in the release of RFA for the RIPM program.

Dr. Farrar also shared with the community the development of WIPC signature food security programs. The center will have three signature programs in this funding cycle, these programs are:

1) Regional Infrastructure for Climate and Weather-based Decision Support Tools that is led by Dr. Paul Jepson of Oregon State University. The goal of this signature program is to advance IPM systems in the western U.S. and nationally by providing access to quality-controlled climate and weather data for any state that wishes to partner with the WIPMC. This realizes the value of the investment that the WIPMC has already made in the WWWG, and provides a significantly higher level of service and support to farms throughout this region. Dr. Farrar gave a presentation about the objective, goals, plan of actions and outcome of this project. The committed showed strong interest in the project and hope that Dr. Jepson would work with states liaisons to expand the scope of the project.

2) Crop Pest Losses and Impact Assessment Program. The leading scientists on this project are Dr. Peter Ellsworth and Dr. Al Fournier. The initial work on this project was funded as a WIPMC Work Group in 2004; the Crop Pest Losses and Impact Assessment program has developed a process for capturing real-world data on the impacts of pests and pest management practices on crops. These data are essential for IPM evaluation and needs assessment, identification of stakeholder priorities, support of pesticide registration needs, and to respond to federal, regional, and local information needs. To date, the group has worked with stakeholders in Arizona and southern California (and occasionally West Texas) in key desert crops (cotton, cantaloupes, watermelons and lettuce) to develop the data. Surveys, implemented through face-to-face workshops, provide insights into growers’ decision making and the intent behind specific pest management practices. The goal of this signature program is to expand the reach and implementation of the crop pest losses survey program to other states so that they may benefit from the process, survey instruments, and impact assessment analyses as a major step in learning about IPM practices in use by growers and evaluating IPM adoption. Dr. Al Fournier presented project plan and current progress. The committee requested that PIs consider expanding the project to cover more crops such as potato.

3) Protocols for Responding to Invasive Species in the West. Western states are under exceptional pressure from increasing introductions of exotic and invasive insects, weeds, and plant diseases. Globalization of the world’s economic and social systems benefits the western region economy and the export of agricultural commodities produced in western states, but at significant economic, environmental, and societal costs. Invasive species pose a serious threat to agricultural production, services from natural resources, and urban communities. We must deal effectively with invaders in ways that are economically and environmentally acceptable and cause minimum disruption of IPM strategies and tactics targeting other pests. To do this, well-tuned, coordinated cooperation, knowledge of these species, understanding of invasive species biology and ecology, and potential control and eradication strategies are critical. WIPMC stakeholders have identified invasive species as a major priority issue. The overall goals of the project are to improve prevention, detection and reporting, with rapid risk assessment and response to new invasive species threats. This will be achieved by developing processes that ensure regional communication and collaboration for earlier detection and rapid response to manage, control, and/or eradicate the identified high priority invasive species. The program brings together a working group of interested partners in the West—including federal, regional, state, and local entities—to address invasive insects, plants, and plant pathogens, and how to coordinate a rapid response to a few of the most threatening of these. Dr. Kassim Al-Khatib gave presentation about the current progress in the project. There are three working groups formed to address Zebra Chip disease in potatoes and vegetables caused by the bacterial pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum vectored by the psyllid; grape vine meadlybug, and Flowering Rush. All these invasive species could result in extensive economical and environmental damage through the west.

e. National PIPE efforts: The future of ipPIPE.

Dr. Howard Schwartz gave presentation about the scoop of PIPE projects including soybean rust and legumes PIPE. The project has new name which is Pest Issue in Vegetable. He shared with the group his current work on onion and bean. He also discussed with the group the value of the project to stakeholders and how it used in IPM programs. In addition, he shared with the committee several publications, educational tools and products resulted from his PIPE project. The group had extensive discussion about how to identify new resources to fund PIPE.

f. Outside visitors.

The committee listened to several presentations about IPM programs for the city of Boulder, Colorado. The committee was interested in the city efforts to fund the work and also the process that the city used to identify high priority projects.

g. Tours and visits.

The community conducted a field trip to Rock Mountain National Part to observe the impact of Mountain Pine Beetle damage and the efforts to address this invasive insect problem. Bill Jacobi (CSU) and Jeff Conner (National Park Service) led the tour. The community also visited Ned Tisserat’s lab and was briefed about the efforts to address Thousand Canker Disease. In addition, the committee toured to the National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation.

h. State reports.

Representative of Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Hawaii, and Guam gave a report about IPM activity and progress in each state.

Kassim Al-Khatib is the new chair; Mary Burrows is the vice-chair. Due to scheduling, the next WERA 1017 meeting will be held in Montana.

Discussion of state reports (5 minutes each) included numerous accomplishments under each WERA1017 objective. None were recorded in written form.

In the 2012 report, the group reported 129 research and extension publications. Although no written record of publications is available for 2013, the total number produced by the group is expected to be similar. Publications for 2013 will be appended to the 2014 report.