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2020 is the Year of the Rat and Rodent Academy is going Virtual

November 12, 2020 by janet.hurley

The Texas 2020 Rodent Academy is going virtual!

Register early to join us for this unique urban rodent management virtual workshop. Come spend two-days with experts from around the country discussing better ways to understand rodent ecology and integrated pest management (IPM). Learn about rodent disease, monitoring, trapping, urban rodent surveys and much more.

This event will be December 1 & 2, 2020 via Zoom and will be from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM with time for you to chat with our speakers.

Cost is $75 per person and we ask that you register by Nov. 30th at 3:00 PM to give us time to send you the video link for the meeting.

Who Should Attend?

This course is intended for pest management professionals, municipalities, universities, public schools, and food safety personnel involved in the rodent control programs.

Curriculum Content

The topics will include:

  • Health significance of rodents
  • Rodents and allergens
  • Biology and behavior of rodents
  • Overview of Integrated Pest Management
  • Pesticide labels and federal regulations
  • Exterior bait boxes – what, where, how?
  • Alternative tools & techniques for rat control
  • Rodent Sensing Systems – which one is right for your business

 Class Size:  since we are going to be virtual, we will allow for a larger class than our in-person events. However, it will still be limited to 75 people to keep the group somewhat small so we can chat at the end of each day.

Academy Completion Certificate and CEU Credits

To Receive a Certificate of Academy Completion

  • Students will be expected to participate in class activities via chat or online polling.
  • Both sessions must be attended and completed by the same student from each company.
  • All students must also pass a final exam, which will be given via an online survey software.

Video or audio taping of any session of the Academy is prohibited, except with the express and prior permission of Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension

Meet some of our speakers:

Dr. Claudia Riegel, Director, New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board. She is currently leading a city-wide program of rodent baiting not only considering the increased pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, but out of concern that the higher pressure could spread disease among the homeless population.

Dr. Niamh Quinn, Human-Wildlife Interactions Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension Area Vertebrate Pest Advisor, based at the UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.CA. She facilitates interactions and information exchange among campus-based academics, CE advisors and community stakeholders. Her focus is directed on the coordination of Cooperative Extension programming regarding human-wildlife conflicts, particularly within the residential and industrial areas within Southern California where significant human-wildlife conflicts are occurring, with concentration in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties.

Timmy Madere, Pest Control Specialist, New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent and Termite Control Board. Madere has worked on research studies and urban pest issues concerning everything from termites and bed bugs to coyotes and raccoons, but his primary focus is on commensal rodents and urban rodent control.

Sylvia Kenmuir, BCE Sylvia is an Industrial Entomologist and chair of the West Coast Rodent Academy. She is currently the Western US Technical Specialist with BASF where she is responsible for product support.

Dr. Michael H. Parsons is a Visiting Research Scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. His work focuses on creating novel biological field assays to explore how scents influence risk assessment, disposition and decision making in small mammals. As a multi-disciplinary researcher, his assays with wild, city rats have been adapted into neuroethological assays and have been utilized for urban pathogen surveillance.

There will also be a discussion about the banning of rodenticides in California, how they got there and what steps everyone should learn from this.

Have you heard about rodent remote sensing?  Are you unsure what it is or how to use? Then Wednesday afternoon will be the day to learn more about this new technology.

Both days will end will a roundtable discussion that will allow participants to ask questions and share ideas with others.

Here is the Rodent academy agenda I will have more detailed information closer to the event.  In the meantime, get registered now.  If you need SPCS CEUs or a certificate of training you must register Online Here  I will notify each participant with the Zoom invite for the meeting.  Once you receive the invite from Zoom, you will have to register again to get the room code.  Please do not share the link.

I look forward to “seeing” you on December 1 and 2, 2020 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM

 

Filed Under: news, Pest Control Training Tagged With: AgriLife Extension, integrated pest management, IPM, IPM Experience House, pest control training, rats, rodent academy, rodent control, TDA CEU credits

Getting the Bugs Out: Bed Bug Training 2020

October 12, 2020 by janet.hurley

Alan Brown

Alan Brown teaching how to use steam for bed bug treatment

IPM Experience House: Getting the Bugs Out: Bed Bug Training 2020 is here to help you understand this old but new foe the “Bed Bug.” Long-time bed bug specialist for ABC Home and Commercial Services, Alan Brown, Staff Entomologist/ Department Manager will be providing his insights into best practices for bed bug control. In  addition to classroom training on the finer points of the “modern bed bug,” the class will get hands on experience with inspecting, treating using heat and other methods and developing practical and effective follow-up plans for your customers.

Hands-on activities include use of various sprayers and dusters, bag fumigants, solar heat treatments, and situational problem solving. In addition, we will use microscopes to examine different bed bug life stages and species.

Registration is now open for bed bug training academy at IPM Experience House.

What: This class will provide basic and advanced training in bed bug recognition, treatment methods and problem solving. Registration open until October 28, or until the class is full. Class size limited to 10.  No refunds after October 29.

JJ teaching

JJ teaching the class about solar treatment for some items

Where: Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Water & Land Resources Building along with IPM Experience House .

When: October 29, 2020. 8:15 am to 5 pm.

Instructors: , Janet Hurley, Alan Brown and Jonathan Joubert.  (CEUs: 8 hours verified training in Pest Category, Pending: 2 CEU general, 1 CEU Pest)

How to Register: Click here to register online.

Agenda: Oct. 29, 2020, 8:15 am – 5:00 pm you can find the full agenda here Detailed Agenda

Filed Under: news Tagged With: AgriLife Extension, bed bug training, bedbugs, hands on training for pest license, IPM Experience House

2020 Fall IPM Virtual Conference

September 25, 2020 by janet.hurley

For anyone who needs structural or ag CEU credits in turf and ornamental pest management, 2020 Fall IPM Conference registration is now open, and we are going virtual.

We understand this year has been a challenge and getting your CEU credits is still required, so like everything else there is a Zoom meeting for that.

Never Fear AgriLife Extension is Here. You can trust us to have speakers that will help keep you engaged and teach you a thing or two.

When: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – Zoom conference room will open at 7:45 AM. We will break for lunch (on your own) and begin right at 1:00 PM with Dr. Renchie and will be done by 3:30 PM.

Our speaker lineup includes Dr. Becky Bowling talking about water and how that impacts pests – too much or not enough is that is needed to stress an area out. Dr. Eric Reasor will discuss herbicide resistance, this applies to all of us as we watch products drop off the market. Dr. Sonja Swiger will be discussing a topic we haven’t heard from in a while – flies and that’s not just mosquitoes, but flies are always problematic in certain areas. To ensure you are awake after the lunch break, we have Dr. Don Renchie scheduled to cover laws and rules, yes, he will still get you to say an Amen or Hum at least once during his session. Our final speaker of the day will be Erfan Vafaie, discussing some of the smaller insect pests that occur outside on vegetables and ornamentals.

Did you realize a couple of names were not listed as speakers? No, we didn’t all retire, only Dr. Mike Merchant retired in August, Dr. Chrissie Segars and Janet Hurley will be part of the program only we will be monitoring the chat box and you the participants to make sure you are there. online! 

How to Register

This virtual conference brings some changes to our normal registration process. All payment and registration will be done through our registration link only. You MUST register here  and have your payment to College Station by November 16th. This is a hard deadline and no exceptions will be made. We are unable to take registrations on the day of the conference due to the nature of the virtual format. We appreciate your patience with this process. All necessary information will be sent to your email once registration is complete. You must have an email to access the zoom webinar information.

To qualify for CEU’s, you must enter your correct license number and be present for the entirety of the virtual conference. The online platform will monitor your presence at the conference and CEU’s will be awarded accordingly. More explanation will be given the day of the conference.

Wednesday, November 18

Webinar Register online! scroll to the webinar section http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/IPM

Registration/Payment Questions: agriliferegister@tamu.edu  979-845-2604

Cost $50 through November 16 Please enter your current pesticide license at registration!

Cancellations received no later than Nov. 16 will receive a refund minus a $10 administrative fee

Seminar questions: Sharon Harris 972-952-9201 SRHarris@ag.tamu.edu

Filed Under: news, Pest Control Training Tagged With: AgriLife Extension, integrated pest management, pest control, pest control training, structural pest control, TDA CEU credits

Dr. Mike Merchant Retires After 30+ Years with Extension

September 10, 2020 by janet.hurley

The Department of Entomology and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service celebrated the retirement of a longtime professor and Extension Entomologist during a virtual celebration held on August 7.

Merchant, a Professor and Extension Entomologist in Dallas, will be retiring on August 31. He has been with Extension for more than 30 years when he joined as an Urban Entomologist in the District 4 offices located in the Dallas area.

His career highlights started in 1993 when Merchant was named Chair of the statewide School IPM Advisory Committee. As chair, Merchant served as principal drafter of the original regulations establishing the Texas School IPM program. Since then, he has created video training tapes and wrote a handbook for school IPM coordinators, and a training conference.

In 2001, Merchant and Program Leader and Extension Specialist Dr. Don Renchie were awarded a multi-state grant in to develop the Southwestern Technical Resource Center for IPM in Schools and Daycare Facilities. The grant also allowed Merchant to hire Extension Program Specialist Janet Hurley to help create the Texas School IPM Team, which gained national recognition for their outstanding work developing training materials and courses in integrated pest management for schools.

In the early 1990’s Merchant was the author of the original fact sheet for the “Texas Two-Step” method of controlling fire ants that was developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The sheet was the most frequently requested publication from 1995-1997 and is now being used by commercial fire ant bait manufacturers and is recognized as the most effective control program available in the nation.

Crepe myrtle bark scale

Over the past decade, Merchant led a team of entomologists to identify a new insect pest of crape myrtle, officially named the crape myrtle bark scale or Eriococcus lagerstroemiae. The scale has now spread throughout the southern U.S. Merchant demonstrate that neonicotinoid soil drenches controlled the scale, and his research has focused on safe and effective methods of control that are also safe, economically feasible, and do not adversely impact pollinators who use crape myrtle as a source of pollen in the late summer.

In 2003, Merchant along with colleagues Drs. John Jackman and Carlos Bogran developed the Master Volunteer Specialist in Entomology program. This training consists of a course which offers in-depth training in entomology to Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists and created an online outreach tool for professionals and general public called Insects in the City. He also oversaw the renovation project in 2016 that eventually became the Texas IPM House, which is a hands-on training facility for pest management professionals to learn about IPM and pests that invade homes or used structures as a source of food and shelter.

Merchant also created an interactive website called “Mosquito Safari” to help teach homeowners and businesses about proper mosquito control. During the emergence of the Zika virus, Merchant worked with Dr. Sonja Swiger to develop a statewide outreach program to educate about controlling mosquitoes and prevention of Zika in Texas. In 2016, they enlisted the help of several Extension agents, specialists, and program specialists to create and distribute materials.

Mike Merchant training a class at the IPM Experience House

Their efforts in mosquito control educational programming resulted in 339 education events, directly training nearly 140,000 people plus over 2 million media contacts engaged with the programs. In addition, 76,400 people received newsletters with Zika information and more than 11,000 printed copies were distributed throughout the state.

Since 1995, Merchant has also maintained another highly popular website called Insects In The City, or citybugs.tamu.edu, that allows visitors to sign up for insect updates, post questions, and view fact sheets. The site receives at least 1.2 to 1.5 million visitors and an average of 3.2 million views per year.

In addition to Extension, Merchant was very active in the Entomological Society of America where he made significant contributions through his service, including co-authoring a 208-page study guide Associate Certified Entomologist program titled IPM for the Urban Professional: A Study Guide for the Associate Certified Entomologist.

Merchant also served on the Entomological Society of America’s Certification Board, a board that is responsible for the Society’s certification programs, and the Director of the BCE program in 2001-2002. Since he was director of the BCE, he led the reorganization of the program committee and established the Associate Certified Entomologist program.

Extension Program Specialist Wizzie Brown said that Merchant will definitely be missed by everyone.

“Mike has been an excellent mentor over the years and will be sorely missed by myself, other entomologists, and people within the pest control industry,” Brown said.

“Dr. Merchant has always been some whom I could depend on whenever I had a question or an issue,” Associate Professor and Extension Specialist Dr. Sonja Swiger said. “He has provided guidance, wisdom, compassion and steadfast for all of us in the Extension Entomology group. While his retirement is well deserved, he will be deeply missed by all.”

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Associate Certified Entomologist, IPM Experience House, Merchant, Mike Merchant

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