Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Community and Urban Pest Management: public health

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Human Health: other

• Natural Areas: other, wildlife

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: chemical control, cultural control, disease vectors, habitat modification

• Natural Resources/Environment: other

• Sustainable Communities: other, public participation, quality of life

Founded in 2013 by the IPM Institute of North America, the Public Tick IPM Working Group (WG) aspires to expand the network of collaborators working to improve adoption of integrated tick management (ITM) strategies and reduce the risk of human and animal exposure to infected ticks. The WG focuses on ticks and tick-borne diseases (TBDs) which pose a major public-health risk to people, pets and livestock in the North Central region and nationally. North Central states have recorded 13 additional TBDs. Most notably, the North Central region has experienced rising rates of both anaplasmosis and babesiosis (Solan 2023, Swanson et al. 2023). Regions at risk from TBDs, like the North Central and Northeast, require more robust ITM interventions including continuous surveillance, education and prevention. ITM strategies combine multiple methods to maximize the effectiveness of tick control while reducing adverse impacts on human, animal and environmental health (Stafford et al. 2017). These methods may include habitat modification, personal tick checks, repellant-treated clothing, population management of host animals and pesticide applications, including bio-pesticides (Stafford et al. 2017). In 2025, the 6th Annual Tick Academy offered seven hours of tick related educational content to 114 registrants from 31 states with free registration for 29 students. In 2026/27, the WG will continue to enhance tick, TBD and ITM knowledge through meaningful partnerships to broaden the reach of the Tick Academy. The WG will host quarterly webinars and provide tick collection resources to NCIPM communities at risk of TBD. 

The WG will do this through the following objectives:  

Objective 1. The WG will raise awareness of ticks, Integrated Tick Management (ITM) and Tick-Borne Diseases (TBD) within communities across the public health, pest management and natural resource management sectors in the North Central region and nationally by providing platforms for continued education. The WG will do this by hosting the seventh annual Tick Academy and quarterly webinars open to the public, students and WG members. 

Objective 2: Support Integrated Tick Management (ITM) programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin by providing educational tick-collection resources. 

Literature cited 
Solan M. 2023. Babesiosis: A tick-borne illness on the rise. Harvard Health Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/babesiosis-a-tick-borne-illness-on-the-rise-202305032932#:~:text=While%20Lyme%20disease%20is%20the,in%20the%20Northeast%20and%20Midwest 
Swanson, M., Pickrel, A., Williamson, J., Montgomery, S. 2023. Trends in Reported Babesiosis Cases — United States, 2011–2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:273–277. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7211a1 

Objective 1. The WG will raise awareness of ticks, Integrated Tick Management (ITM) and Tick-Borne Diseases (TBD) within communities across the public health, pest management and natural resource management sectors in the North Central region and nationally by providing platforms for continued education. The WG will do this by hosting the seventh annual Tick Academy and quarterly webinars open to the public, students and WG members. 

Objective 2: Support Integrated Tick Management (ITM) programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin by providing educational tick-collection resources.