- Author: Steve Elliott
The Western Integrated Pest Management Center's annual grants program is now open with the release of its Request for Applications.
The RFA was announced in the October 6 issue of the Western IPM Center's newsletter and is at http://westernipm.org/index.cfm/2022-rfa. Complete application packets will be due Dec. 3.
The funding categories in the annual grants program are for Project Initiation research projects, Outreach and Implementation projects and Work Groups. They are all one-year grants with maximum funding of $50,000. About $400,000 is available.
As a regional program, Western IPM Center grants encourage multistate collaborations. Project directors for Western IPM Center proposals must be located in the 17 states or territories that make up the region, and proposals must address one or more identified regional priorities (see below).
The Western IPM Center will hold a webinar on Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. Pacific to go through the RFA and proposal management system. The grants webinar link is https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/8420058983.
Regional priorities
This list is not ranked. Explanations are for clarity and are not all-encompassing or exclusionary.
- Invasive Species: Creating IPM responses to invasive pests and resurgent native pests disrupting IPM programs.
- Biological Control of Pests: For insects, weeds, diseases and vertebrate pests.
- IPM and Ecosystem Services: Using IPM to protect and promote ecosystem services in managed and natural landscapes.
- Soil-borne Pest Management: Developing IPM tactics to manage soil-borne pests.
- Urban Pest Management: Promoting IPM for homes, schools and communities, including the safe use of pesticides in homes and gardens.
- IPM for Indigenous, Insular and Isolated People: Promoting IPM for underserved communities and audiences.
- IPM for Pest-Resistance Management: Developing IPM tools and techniques to reduce pest development of resistance.
- New Technologies to Manage Pests: Developing novel and non-traditional approaches to managing insects, weeds, diseases and vertebrate pests.
- IPM in New Places: Promoting IPM to new, challenging and changing industries, such as animal agriculture, aquaculture, chemically intensive cropping systems, urban farming, indoor production, etc.
- IPM in Changing Landscapes: Creating IPM tools and tactics for landscapes changed by natural forces, including climate and fire.
- IPM Culture and Capacity: Enhancing the acceptance of IPM, strengthening the networks, structures and institutions that promote it, and developing new scientists to lead it.
To learn more about Western IPM Center grants, visit http://westernipm.org/index.cfm/center-grants.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Melnicoe was the first director of the Western Integrated Pest Management Center, launching the project at UC Davis in the early 2000s when the regional IPM centers were just getting off the ground. He had served as western regional coordinator for the Pesticide Impact Assessment Program and assistant to the UC IPM director since 1991. He also oversaw the Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination.
In 2011, UC Davis awarded Melnicoe a Citation of Excellence for supervision. The nomination noted that as a model of a can-do attitude and approach, Melnicoe encouraged others to aim high and stretch.
“When he retired in 2012, the Western IPM Center was an important and valued partner in integrated pest management in the West and across the country, and much of that was due to Rick,” Steve Elliott, communication coordinator for the center, wrote in the Western IPM Center newsletter.
“You could count on him to try to move past difficult things and to get people to try to move forward together," said Jim VanKirk, former director of the Southern IPM Center. "If there were 300 million people like Rick in this country, we would be a lot better off.”
A celebration of Melnicoe's life will be held in June, according to his obituary in the Sacramento Bee.
Read more about Melnicoe in Elliott's blog post at http://ipmwest.blogspot.com/2018/02/remembering-former-center-director-rick.html