Integrated Pest Management Systems (Bernalillo County)

Pasture Visit due to a Dead Horse: This agent performed a Pasture Visit at the property of Chris Shelby in Sandia Park, NM at his request because he had a horse die and the other got sick. The evaluation included a walking observation of a 1.5 acre pasture. There were no identifiable poisonous plants and the only evidence of foraging was of native grasses. Farther questioning revealed that the Shelby’s had fed some moldy Bermuda grass hay and the horse that died had been in the pasture two days and the other horse was in the pasture one day. He was also sick. I consulted veterinarian Dr. Jerry Casper and let him talk to Mr. Shelby and Dr. Casper’s opinion was that the hay was responsible for the death of the first horse and not to feed any more to the other horse, which lived. There was no chance to perform an autopsy, since the dead horse had already been cremated. Mr. Shelby was given an order form for Weeds of the West, since he observed it during my evaluation of his pasture

There is an annual requirement to provide Continuing Education Unit (CEU) training and NMDA certification to Ornamental, Turf and Agricultural pesticide license holders. The training was directed to serve 150 license holders whose licenses expire June 30th each year. This year, the license year has been extended to January 1st, and all renewals will be due by January 1st each year for all categories.

Planning was accomplished by telephone with Valencia and Sandoval County Extension Agents and an Albuquerque NMDA Pesticide staff member. The agent coordinated the rental and use of the 4-H Center facility, advertising brochures, promoted via mail and e-mail. Also contacted NMSU specialists and speakers to present topics and identify AV and handout needs. Contacted NMDA to award CEU’s from the program. We collected the pre-registrations and registrations at this office utilizing the secretarial staff. The secretarial staff coordinated the collection of purchase orders and payments since this was a fee workshop.

The workshop had 150 participants who qualified to re-certify their NMDA pesticide licenses.

Formal evaluation revealed that 85.7% of the participants considered the information and methods of presentation to be above average. The evaluation instrument was a scale of 5 with 5 being the highest. (5 received 54.8% of the rating).

Topics requested for 2008 were Gopher & Prairie Control, More specifics on which herbicides, products available & effective uses, and Greenhouse pests & management.

Agencies and businesses who participated were: NMSU Specialist / Ag Science Centers, BIA, US Fish & Wildlife, Carrasco Farm, USDA Forest Service, City of Portales, City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation, UNM Physical Plant, City of Clovis, Gallup-McKinley County School District, Albuquerque Bio Park & Botanic Gardens, Schollenbarger Wood Treating Plant, Bernalillo County Parks & Recreation, Diamond Pest Control, Department of Military Affairs and Baca’s Trees.

Think Trees New Mexico: Assisted co-worker Joran Viers and was in charge of registering NMDA License holders at Think Trees New Mexico, so they could earn continuing education units (CEU’s). Registered about 150 people over the two-day period and issued them CEU certificates of credit to renew their pesticide licenses.

The Bernalillo County Grounds Maintenance workshop was conducted to provide 31 local Bernalillo County Grounds Maintenance applicators five credit units of training for them to re-certify and renew NMDA Public Applicator pesticide licenses.

The four hour program was designed to provide the training required and prior approval and certificates were obtained from NMDA, the regulating agency. The class designed was one hour each on the following topics: Pesticide labels (2 hours), and one hour each on Pesticide Formulations & Small animal damage control. The workshop was coordinated with the grounds maintenance crew of 31 and also advertised via NMSU e-mail system.

Thirty-five grounds maintenance crew members attended and saved the County over $1,000 of registration fees had they attended other workshops. The crew members recertified with the NMDA pesticide division, which is a condition of their employment.

Ray Balduini, the field supervisor thanked me for presenting the workshop at a time of year that the maintenance was “slower” and the crews needed the training to keep their employment. He estimated the annual salaries from these 31 workers was over $1,000,000 which contributes to the local economy.

Master Gardener Pesticide Safety Training: The Bernalillo County Extension Agent was requested to provide the basic information about homeowner use pesticides to the Bernalillo County Master Gardeners. Since the master gardeners often are asked questions about pesticide use, it was important to stress pesticides labels and safety.

The planning was for a one hour class concerning pesticides labels and safety. The agent stressed the different parts of the label, and how to use products according to the label. Another important concept conveyed to the Master Gardeners was that the label is a Federal Legal Document. The class could be summarized in three words: READ THE LABEL!

There were 87 Albuquerque Area Master Gardeners who were trained in the class. The presentation was done with the Power Point program.