Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

Target Pests

Practices

Vertebrate pests, including wildlife such as rodents, ungulates, birds, and reptiles, affect all of us–no matter where we live or what we do.  Integrated management of vertebrate pests (IVPM) is generally overlooked as an IPM discipline partly due to the variable and isolated nature of pest infestations, and scarcity of expertise in the Land Grant system. However, with an increase in vertebrate pest/human conflicts, IVPM is needed now more than ever.

Our project team is a very diverse and skilled group of stakeholders engaged in bridging the gap between pesticide safety education and IPM. We recently assessed the needs/desires of Extension Educators in U.S. states and territories to determine the content and desired format of educational resources on integrated vertebrate pest management (N>720 survey responses). The development, pilot testing and preliminary analysis of this educational needs assessment survey was funded by a 2023 WIPMC grant (proposal title: Assessing Educator Needs for Content, Format and Delivery of Educational Resources for Integrated Management of Vertebrate Pests, Award #SA22-5974-14). We are currently reviewing and compiling IPM educational materials for vertebrate pest management (e.g., factsheets, videos, etc.), revealed in the needs assessment of Extension Educators or recognized by our team, to determine their merit for wider use, or for revision/enhancement to address resource shortfalls. Through a preliminary assessment of the survey results, Western Region respondents expressed a strong interest in the development of an online course on integrated management of vertebrate pests. We propose additional objectives bridging what we learned through the 2023 grant-funded project to this one.

This proposed Outreach and Implementation project is a strong fit in three of the Western IPM Center grant program priorities: IPM Culture and Capacity; IPM for Indigenous, Insular and Isolated People; and, Urban Pest Management.  

We will undertake the following objectives (and procedures) with emphasis on Western Region survey participants.

1. Welcome and engage with our Pacific Island survey respondents in all of the proposed 2024-2025 objectives and activities.
2. Evaluate and prioritize current IPM educational materials for vertebrate pest management (e.g., factsheets, videos, etc.), revealed in the needs assessment of Extension Educators or recognized by our team, to determine their merit for wider use, or for revision/enhancement to address resource shortfalls.
3. Compile science-based resources on wildlife damage management in the IPM Centers’ Resource Database (https://resources.ipmcenters.org).
4. Determine the content and format of educational resources on integrated vertebrate pest management that can be delivered to Western Region Extension Educators.
5. Prepare a manuscript describing our methods, analysis, and results of the needs assessment survey for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
6. Meet as a team to work on the manuscript and content of educational resources.
7. Evaluate our team’s effectiveness (post-survey tool) in identifying and addressing the needs for educational resources expressed by the Extension Educators (see “Evaluation” in the Outcomes section)