About the Western Integrated Pest Management Center

See The Western Front newsletter for information on Western IPM news and events. See the WIPMC Annual Report describing the past year's activities.

Contents:
Purpose
Funding
Organization
Advisory Committee
Steering Committee
Information Network Competitive Grants Program

Purpose

In September 2000, USDA funded the creation of the Western Integrated Pest Management Center (WIPMC) as part of a nationwide pest management information network established to respond quickly to information needs in both the public and private sectors. A total of four Regional IPM Centers were funded to promote the development and implementation of IPM by facilitating collaboration across states, disciplines, and purposes. Each center serves as a focal point for regional pest management information networks, collaborative team building, and broad-based stakeholder participation. The ultimate goal of the centers is to increase coordination of IPM research, education, and extension efforts and enhance responsiveness to critical pest management challenges.

The WIPMC's most basic function is to develop and maintain a pest management information network in the Western Region that will increase the economic benefits of adopting IPM practices and reduce the environmental and human health risks associated with managing pests. These goals were established by USDA's National Roadmap for Integrated Pest Management, which addresses pest management needs for production agriculture, natural resources and recreational environments, and residential and public areas.

The Western Region's information network serves two major purposes: to facilitate communication among pest management stakeholders, and to provide these stakeholders with broad access to pest management information. The WIPMC works to connect a diverse array of stakeholders (i.e., people who have an interest in pest management policy and implementation) throughout the region. These stakeholders include pest management users (farmers, nurserymen, park and turf managers, pest control operators, and others), consumer and environmental groups, governmental regulatory agencies, researchers, and educators.

Communication channels are effective only if all parties can consistently access the same reliable information. Research-based information is essential to the ability to make sound pest management decisions in any context, from a backyard garden to national regulatory offices. The WIPMC, working with the three other regional Integrated Pest Management Centers and with the support of USDA, is building a comprehensive database that eventually will hold scientifically tested pest management information. This database will be available on the World Wide Web for use by everyone.

Funding

Section 406 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 authorized funding for the national Integrated Pest Management Centers. As the result of a competitive process, the four regional Integrated Pest Management Centers were first funded in FY 2000. Management of the WIPMC is through the University of California, Davis.

Organization

The organizational structure of the Western Integrated Pest Management Center is designed to maximize collaboration among individuals and groups with diverse perspectives across the West. Broad-based regional participatory leadership assures stakeholder needs are met. Advisory and Steering Committees guide and direct Center staff (the Director, Associate Director, and Writer) in managing information flow. Project leaders in each participating state funded by the competitive information network grants program not only develop new information as needed but also extend the communications network to the local level.

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee provides vision and guidance. Members represent a wide range of stakeholders linking the Western IPM Center to stakeholder needs and priorities for pest management programs. These advisors, integral to IPM Center outreach, promote awareness of the Center's resources to their own constituencies and beyond. The Advisory Committee meets once per year.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is the Center's policy-setting body. It gathers input from stakeholders (including the Advisory Committee), determines broad policy goals and priorities, and provides direction for timely and effective Center management. The Steering Committee meets once per year and communicates by email and telephone regularly. This committee also serves as the grant review panel for the Center's competitive subcontracts.

Information Network Competitive Grants Program

The WIPMC uses a competitive grants program to help build and extend the region's information network. An initial call for proposals was issued in November 2000. More than 200 groups (universities, agencies, nonprofit organizations, and others) were invited to apply. The WIPMC currently supports seven information networks and is responding to information requests for all of the western states.

The information network projects have all promoted multistate and multi-agency collaboration. Project Leaders have produced commodity-specific pesticide use surveys, crop profiles, and Pest Management Strategic Plans, and have responded to information requests from USEPA, USDA, and others. These products are essential in setting research, extension, and regulatory priorities. The Center staff and resources facilitate communication networks developed through these projects, and many of the people involved in funded projects are connected to other components of the Center. The state project personnel interact with their stakeholders to identify pest management priorities at the local level, and they transfer information provided from regional and national sources back to these stakeholders.

(Acknowledgement and thanks go to the NE IPMC for much of the above text.)