Goals
for 2005
Whitehall, Harrison & Ennis Project 2005,
Madison &
Jefferson Counties. 3-10-05
We are
starting to get psyched and ready for the upcoming ’05 field season
here at the
WHE Project! Last year we collected:
<>-leafy spurge insects:
Aphthona spp.: 1,830,500 [1,600,000 collected
on Grassrange trip with BLM]
Oberea erythrocephala: 2,794
-knapweed insects:
Larinus minutus: 31,073
Cyphocleonus achates: 2,431
Agapeta zoegana: 605
<>
We also
started two new knapweed insectaries to grow the root boring weevil
Cyphocleonus
achates, one in Harrison and one in Ennis.
Knapweed insectaries are quite labor intensive but we feel that
the
combined benefits of bio-control insects, community involvement plus
IPM
education, are worth it!
It just flat
looks good when the Counties and the schools are cooperating to “do
something!”
This coming
year we will again try to reach or surpass our goals.
To do this we will involve: 1) two teachers in Whitehall (Todd
Breitenfeldt and Mike Battaiola) plus three students, 2) one part time
teacher
(Dan Jones) in Harrison plus two part time students, and 3) one full
time
teacher (Mellissa Newman) in Ennis and one full time student.
1. We will maintain and improve
our knapweed insectaries
(which will involve much transplanting of knapweed to replace those
plants
killed by the insects, mostly at WHS) and add another insectary bed to
the
Ennis operation.
With the insectaries
in Ennis and Harrison starting to produce weevils this year and some of
our
field release sites producing large numbers of weevils, we hope to
increase our
Cyphocleonus achates collections.
[Watering, fertilizing and “weeding the weeds” still seems
rather odd…. But, watching knapweed croak is worth it!!]
2. We will probably collect slightly fewer Oberea
erythrocephala and Larinus minutus because we are finding
these
established throughout both counties.
These bio-agents readily fly and rapidly disperse themselves
over large
areas. Stop on buy, have a chat and
collect a few if you are passing through!
<>
3. We will collect leafy spurge flea beetles
Aphthona spp.
locally
(these collections usually contain many
Oberea) and take a
class trip to
Grassrange with the BLM and our summer class teachers.
We hope to collect “massive” numbers at this
awesome “super site!”
Attending
teachers will be able to take home a large percentage of these flea
beetles to
jump-start their own program.
4. We will try and increase our
Agapeta
zoegana
numbers using the fancy new insect collection vacuums purchased for the
program
by Jefferson County.
We are collecting
these nifty yellow moths out of the insectaries and at several field
sites.
5. We will hold the second
annual 3-day plus 2 Whitehall
Project Summer Class (July 11-15
th) for teachers and any
anyone else
who wants to learn all about how to replicate any of the WHE Project
strategies.
Through our NWTF/NRCS
grant, 10 teachers will receive travel, room and meals for the 3-day
class
and/or all 5 days if they also want to collect flea beetles in
Grassrange.
We will spend the first three
days in Whitehall
practicing all that we do with the WHE project and then travel to
Grassrange
and collect leafy spurge flea beetles with the BLM.
Attendees will take home several species of bio-control insects
along with the knowledge needed to start a Program in their area.
6. We will hold several public
bio-agent collection days,
depending on insect timing and numbers.
These provide a great chance for IPM education and give
landowners
“ownership” of the insects they collect and release themselves.
7. We will attempt to contact all
the Counties landowners
who have release sites and monitor as many of these with them as we can.
If numbers warrant we will: 1) help them
redistribute their insects, 2) make collections for others, or 3) hold
public
collections.
We do much IPM education
with these visits and will augment their release sites if needed.
This is great PR for the Counties!!
8. We will document, photograph,
GPS and GIS map all release
sites and keep records of these at both counties and all 3 schools
involved.
9. In order to be more
self-funding, we will charge a $25
fee for each in County release/augment and will sell insects to out of
county
folks for $50 or $100 if numbers warrant.
10. We will work with the other
existing programs in
Townsend, Coalstrip and Augusta.
Augusta is adding a monitoring/redistribution component to their
insectary program this summer and we will help them.
11. We will hold several 1-day
how-to seminars at
schools/counties that request them.
This will include an overview of how to do the WHE Project
strategies
followed by a community meeting.
Teachers can earn continuing education through U of M Western
for
attending this class.
Our first seminar
is scheduled for April 9
th in Ravalli County, Victor School.
12. We will write a weekly
article about the WHE Program and
IPM for 4 local newspapers.
We often
use articles written by High School Students for the mtwow.org web
site, feel
free to use these also!!
These articles
and all announcements will be posted on the Whitehall_Project email
newsgroup.
You can find this group by
going to Yahoo- Groups and searching for: Whitehall_Project. (don’t
forget the
underscore_).
13.
We tie this all back in to IPM education in the local
schools.
Remember
our goal: “An insectary, bio-control and weed education program
associated with
schools in at least every County in Montana!”
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