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Funded Project

Funding Program: Working Groups

Project Title: Public Tick IPM Working Group

Project Director (PD): Thomas Green [1]

Lead State: WI Lead Organization: IPM Institute of North America

Cooperating State(s): Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota

Undesignated Funding: $20,000

Start Date: Mar-01-2018 End Date: Feb-28-2019

Pests Involved: Ticks

Area of Emphasis: Outdoor environments of urban and rural landscapes

Summary: Ticks and the diseases they vector pose a major public health concern to people, pets and livestock in the North Central region and other parts of the United States. In 2015 Lyme disease was the most commonly reported vector-borne disease. The number of counties with a high incidence of Lyme disease is growing in the Northeastern and Midwestern states. With eight tick-borne diseases and five species of ticks already firmly established in the North Central region, this area needs urgent attention to adequately address the health problems that tick-borne diseases are causing with an integrated approach. The goal of the Working Group is to organize and expand the network that works to reduce the risk of exposure to infected ticks by collaborating on Integrated Tick Management (ITM) related activities, exchanging knowledge and sharing resources effectively. To meet this goal, the working groups shares and critically reviews information on ITM, creates fact sheets such as the Tick Pest Alert and strategizes on activities and needed investments. The Public Tick Working Group will work towards this goal in 2018-2019 by creating a fact sheet for pest management professionals that provides basic information about ITM tools, providing information and support to mosquito control districts and provide information to policy makers at Capitol Hill as part of a Tick Summit at the 9th International IPM Symposium. The working group hosts regular conference calls with experts, shares news and opportunities through a listserv and keeps updated stakeholder priorities on its webpage. Objectives: 1. Continue to coordinate monthly conference calls. Identify speakers to share latest research and projects. Continue to manage a listserv (hosted at University of Rhode Island). Maintain the working group website containing tick summit notes, general information and news, meeting minutes, priorities, resources and project development. 2. Work with mosquito control district representatives to make use of the established vector control network to implement ITM and enable districts to effectively reduce incidence and cost associated with TBDs in their regions. Produce suitable materials based on needs assessment. Materials will be distributed through working group members and mosquito control networks. 3. Create an unbiased fact sheet in partnership with the North Central IPM Center focusing on environmental ITM approaches, including the new LymeShield System, Damminix Tick Tubes and others, to be used by working group members to leverage proven control methods, including new host-targeted technology. Fact sheet will include Land Grant University and Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station data on ITM methods. Distribute weatherproof hard copies to pest management professionals via working group networks and online through the North Central IPM Center. 4. Facilitate a successful Tick Summit at 9th International IPM Symposium and publish outcomes. Facilitate world-class presentations, create and publish detailed notes and recordings of the presentations, create a summary of identified needs and strategies from breakout sessions. Provide summary, notes and presentations on the working group website as key resources. If proposal is accepted, the working group will present a poster at the Symposium. 5. Execute a Capitol Hill visit to provide accurate information about tick-borne disease and IPM to policy makers. Use developed resources, such as the Tick Pest Alert and the updated fact sheet for policy makers, and documents provided by the Entomological Society of America (ESA) from the 2016 ITM Symposium. Follow up by email and phone with policy makers to establish a channel for sharing accurate, up to date tick information.

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