Wildlife conference in Austin next month

Just passing on an announcement about a wildlife management conference being sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department May 22-25. Keynote speakers include Dr. Timothy Beatley (Biophilic Cities), Dr. Marina Alberti (Ecological Resilience in Urbanizing Landscapes), Kieran Lindsey (The Road Less Traveled: Subarus, Squirrels, and the Search for Stakeholders), and John Davis (Where Do We Go From Here? A Vision of the Future for Urban Wildlife).

Blog readers may remember one of the keynote speakers, Dr. Kieran Lindsey, from a recent post about Car Talk.

I am not a wildlifer, but this conference looks great.  For more information, including a list of speakers and topics, check out the conference website at www.urbanwildlife2011.org An international conference of this caliber doesn't come to Texas every year, so take advantage of it if you can.

TIPMAPS 2.0

Keynote speaker, TDA Assistant Commissioner Jimmy Bush, connected
with the crowd on Day One.

In case you're new to this blog, you may not have heard me talk about our state association for school IPM coordinators, TIPMAPS.  Short for Texas IPM Affiliates for Public Schools, the group is an affiliate of the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), a well-respected professional organization for school professional in our state. 

The TIPMAPS group recently held its second annual meeting.  According to TASBO, the conference was attended by over 220 attendees and vendors, representing 108 school districts.  The business meeting on the second day of the conference held over 90 participants, significantly more than 2009.  This is wonderful growth for this new group, and seems to indicate that school IPM coordinators are beginning to take ownership of their relatively new profession.

For me the highlights of the meeting were hearing coordinators and school administrators present their own take on how IPM works in Texas schools.  Jim Olenski, Greenville ISD, gave an excellent presentation on how to get staff on your side in a school IPM program.  "Don't be a battleship [trying to bend people to will]," Jim said.  Instead, "be a cheerleader." Encourage folks in the positive things they do, and respect the contributions everyone makes to the district.

Martha Buckner, Humble ISD, shared her insights as to how to work with school boards.  Knowing your board members as individuals, knowing what makes them tick, their special interests and their connections in the district is key to developing a working relationship there.

Charles Adams, Sherman ISD, shared his extensive experience with trapping wildlife with two classes.  The highlight of his talk was watching him do an outdoor inspection of the hotel and find rat activity (one jumped out of a burrow in front of the class) and raccoon scat a few feet from the elegant outdoor dining area.  Everyone in the training was also treated to a whiff of several baits guaranteed to drive critters wild.

This year's keynote speaker was Mr. Jimmy Bush, Assistant Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, over all pesticide programs including school IPM.  Many people cited Bush as one of the highlights of the conference, as he gave an understandable overview of how pesticides are regulated in the state.  In addition to Bush, Randy Rivera gave an informative session on IPM and ag science programs; and inspector Perry Cervantes explained the licensing process and how to get the necessary training for unlicensed employees.

Comments from participants included:

• Appreciated the fact that unlike some CEU programs, speakers were not spokesmen for particular products
• Enjoyed the opportunity to network and see what other schools are doing
• It was nice to meet and greet the vendors
• Hearing from people from different fields [of expertise] helps
• Well prepared and knowlegable speakers.  I appreciate the in-depth information
• Wish I had come last year!
• Can't wait till next year...

To see more photos from this year's conference, click here.  And if you couldn't make this year's event, don't miss it in 2011.  The hotel is reserved and ready for next time.

Fall Pest Management Seminar 2010

The annual Fall Pest Management Seminar will be held next month on November 9th at the Texas AgriLife Research & Extension Center at Dallas.  Speakers this year include Janet Hurley (IPM Business Practices), Jim McAfee (Weed Control), Mark Evans (Laws and Regulations Update), Kevin Ong (Tree Disease Control) and myself (Stinging and biting pests).  Cost of the program is $60 for registrations made before November 3, and $75 at the door.  Registrations should be made online  Texas AgriLife's Conference Services (use the registration keyword IPM).  This is a great program for anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who needs TDA or structural pesticide applicator certification CEUs. 

Countdown to School IPM Conference

I just have to brag on the new Texas group, Texas Integrated Pest Management Affiliates for Public Schools (TIPMAPS). The group is so new it doesn't have a web page yet, but this hasn't kept these folks from getting over 10% of the school districts in the state to register for a first-of-its-kind conference on IPM, to be held at the Embassy Suites in San Marcos, TX on November 18 and 19.

As the newest affiliate chapter of the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), TIPMAPS is a fledgling group. The conference is their first open event and will focus on a variety of pest management issues facing school IPM coordinators. The concept of an association for school maintenance officials with pest control duties is novel and sets the bar for other states wanting to see IPM take root in their public school districts.

I've just been looking through the list of badges for the meeting and I count 107 different public school districts represented among the approximately 180 early registrants. This represents more than 10% of the approximately 1030 school districts in the second largest state public school system in the nation.

Speakers for the meeting will include some of the state's own school IPM coordinators, along with speakers from industry and the Extension Service. The highlighted speaker for the conference is Dr. Bobby Corrigan, or Dr. Rat, as he's known in New York City where he oversees one of the largest rodent IPM programs in the world.

The last day of the conference will include an organizational meeting to discuss membership dues and formation of regional chapters. Online registration is now closed, but it's not to late to attend. On-site registration will be available for $100. To see a schedule and map to the conference hotel in San Marcos, go to the Texas AgriLife Conference Service website.