Hello! My name is Amara Dunn, and I am excited to have joined the New York State Integrated Pest Management (NYSIPM) program as the biocontrol specialist. Prior to starting this position, I studied vegetable diseases at Cornell University and taught in the Biology Department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. I enjoy finding new ways to…Continue Reading New biocontrol specialist joins NYS IPM
It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week all over the U.S.
It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week — now. Pay it heed. Invasive species, it turns out, are a huge deal in the US, in New York. Everywhere, in fact. Coping with invasive insects, pathogens and the like have cost, in the US as a whole, upward of … OK, I’m hedging already. Is it $40 billion…Continue Reading It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week all over the U.S.
Biocontrols for Invasive Pest Help Save Mountain Forests
Biocontrols — organisms that help keep serious pests in check — are a key component of IPM. And sometimes they’re the only hope. Consider the lovely, lacy-needled hemlock tree, a member of the pine family. “The hemlock is a foundation species in our forests,” says Mark Whitmore, a forest entomologist at Cornell University and a…Continue Reading Biocontrols for Invasive Pest Help Save Mountain Forests
Pruning berry bushes to minimize destructive pest habitat
Examine your caneberry (raspberries and blackberries) plantings for conditions that promote spotted wing drosophila (SWD) infestation and take steps to eliminate them. Although we cannot change the weather, we can alter conditions in the planting to reduce the cool, dark, humid areas preferred by SWD. Pruning and training systems can help maintain an open canopy…Continue Reading Pruning berry bushes to minimize destructive pest habitat
It’s Pollinator Week. Read All About It.
When we think about bees, we mostly think about honeybees … a European native brought here by the very first colonists. Now honeybees are struggling, hammered by a constellation of 20-plus diseases and parasites — not to mention a range of insecticides and fungicides. About 450 species of wild bees also populate our fields and…Continue Reading It’s Pollinator Week. Read All About It.
Tick Trickery and Lyme Disease: the Great Imitator? Sometimes.
Remember the days when we could play with our tykes in tall grass near a wooded hedgerow? When we could wander at will through open meadows, picking wildflowers? When we could have impromptu picnics in the shade of tall oaks and basswoods deep in wild violets and leaf litter where a park blended into a…Continue Reading Tick Trickery and Lyme Disease: the Great Imitator? Sometimes.
Invasives are pests! Learn more at our July IPM conference.
We tend to default to bugs — to insects — when we think about pests. But plant diseases and weeds are pests too. And all threaten our fields and farms, our forests and streams, our homes and workplaces. Pests provide no end of challenges — especially pests that come from afar. Among IPM’s strengths? Researching…Continue Reading Invasives are pests! Learn more at our July IPM conference.
Informing on Invasives: a Conservation Ethic
“The blending of the natural world into one great monoculture of the most aggressive species is … a blow to the spirit and beauty of the natural world.” — Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior The year was 1997. I’ll tell you right off what our tally was. Of white pine, red oak, and…Continue Reading Informing on Invasives: a Conservation Ethic
Keep Off the Grass? IPM for Anyone With a Lawnmower
Now that spring has arrived and you’ve dusted off the lawn mower … PUBLISHED ON MAY 3RD, 2017, CANTON, N.Y. | Courtesy Paul Hetzler, CCE St. Lawrence County As a kid of about five, I became suspicious of lawns. In a rare moment of TV viewing, I had seen a public-service ad wherein a bundle…Continue Reading Keep Off the Grass? IPM for Anyone With a Lawnmower
iMapInvasives Training
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” –Helen Keller Do you go outside? Then the NY Natural Heritage Program is looking for you to help map invasive species! And they are providing free training throughout the state for your convenience. And it is easier than ever to contribute to this…Continue Reading iMapInvasives Training