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To view press release, click here.
November 4, 2005
When is a pest not a pest? Answering that question correctly is one of the keys to the success of the Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, program at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The base is home of the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army and benefits from an effective installation-wide IPM plan that focuses efforts on preventing insects, rodents and other critters from becoming pests.
Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, relies on long-term prevention of pest problems rather than routine applications of pesticides.
Joe Whitfill, installation pest management coordinator, and Ed Legere, pest control shop leader, have been in the IPM business for more than ten years. They and their staff attend an Army-operated 40-hour IPM training course every three years to keep them at the top of their game. Joe and Ed also attend an annual conference offered by Purdue University to learn the latest techniques.
As a result, they know their bugs. “Often the service calls we get are for insects that can’t survive once they get into a school,” says Legere. “For example, small black and brown ground beetles might get in through an open doorway, but they won’t be able to survive long or reproduce in the school. I’ll ask, ‘How quickly do you want them to die?’ We could apply a pesticide, but it’s completely unnecessary.”
The IPM team’s ability to solve pest complaints without pesticide applications is documented – more than 75% of service calls from the child development centers are resolved without a pesticide application. Staff spend time on these visits diagnosing the problem, identifying the cause and educating the school staff on long-term solutions.
Often these solutions involve removing a food source – by disposing of old, forgotten snacks or edibles used for school projects, cleaning up behind and under furniture or equipment that’s rarely moved, or replacing the seal around door to prevent pest entry.
“During our evaluation, we saw many of signs of a well-run program,” reports Dr. Thomas Green, president of the IPM Institute which operates IPM STAR certification. “Dumpsters are positioned well away from school buildings and doorways, reducing the chance that flies or yellow jackets attracted to the dumpsters will get into the school. Vegetation and mulch are kept from contacting building walls – another way pests find their way into schools and other buildings.”
“We do our best to think ahead to avoid problems that might require our services,” says Whitfill. “The playground at one of the child development centers was resurfaced recently with a thick layer of rubber chips. Any weeds that make it through this mulch can easily be pulled out by hand – in fact the kids do it when it’s needed.”
The base includes eight schools including a high school, two middle and five elementary schools, and two child development centers. Keeping buildings well-maintained and clean is the key to minimizing pesticide applications and pest problems.
Preventing critters from becoming pests in the school system reduces costs and saves time – time Whitfill and the Pest Control Shop crew can put to use on more difficult problems, including feral hogs. These destructive and sometimes aggressive animals were introduced onto the base five years ago and quickly increased in numbers. Whitfill has greatly reduced the problem by trapping and removal, but “it’s the wise old ones that are hardest to catch that are left.”
The IPM STAR initiative is
being implemented throughout the Army with the support of the US Army
Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management and the
US Army Environmental Center.
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