Category Archives: Allied Organizations

Allied Organizations, IPM-Working Group, WG Meetings

IPMWG 2018, update from the UK Liaison

Leave a comment

Dear fellow IPM nerds, geniuses & friends,

I would like to remind you all that the UK equivalent to the IPMWG meeting:  the Odyssey Group’s meeting, will take place this year at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on July 4th. Should  you wish to attend, please feel free to drop me an email. There is no fee for registration but it is a first-come, first-serve basis and places are limited.

If you are yet to read David Pinniger’s great IPM book, published by Archetype in 2015, here is a good review by our man in Vienna; Pascal Querner; to open your appetite. David will be presenting his latest publication with Dee Lauder on IPM at English Heritage in  the Spring this year, watch this space!

A new species of Silverfish has been found in the UK Museums in 2017, the Grey Silverfish, Ctenolepisma longicaudata, was found at the Museum of London, as first reported by Conservator Abby Moore in ICON news, and have since been found at the Natural History Museum, London (just by the IPM Rep for Entomology Department’s desk, somehow helpfully).  The implications of this finding should be considered serious as the species is already spreading rapidly in Europe and has also been found to survive and cause damage at ambient relative humidity (40-60%RH).

I would also like to leave here a reminder that the 4th International IPM  Conference will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21-23 May 2019. The call for papers is out and the deadline for abstracts submission is upon us but you still have time until 15 April 2018! I hope to see very many of you there, is going to be a fantastic conference.

If you are interested in Natural History collections, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) will meet in Dunedin, New Zealand, 25 August to 8 September this year. Their conservation committee would welcome new members with an IPM background or interest; if you can’t travel to New Zealand, fear not, they will be back in the US in 2019 in Chicago.

2021 will be 10 years since the last Pest Odyssey conference… (opening of Richard Strauss’ Thus Spoke Zarathustra).

I’m writing this post as we wrap up this year’s meeting on a sunny and cold Friday 16th March and I am already feeling slightly melancholic that our time in snow covered and picturesque Harvard has gone so fast; but also happy that I have had a change to see old friends and meet new ones and work and learn alongside you all. Since we seem to have a knack on predicting mastondontica (that’s mammoth in Spanish, I thought you might like it) snow storms, I’m putting my money on a good one hitting Indiana next year! Prepare those snow boots Señor Kelley!

Thank you Rachael, Matt, Pat and thank you to the fantastic and welcoming local committee; Genevieve, Morgan & Jon  for such a great meeting!

Armando Mendez

a.mendez@nhm.ac.uk

Natural History Museum, London, UK

On Her Majesty’s IPM Service

 

 

Share This:

Allied Organizations, Historic Sites & Structures, Workshops & Training

Historic New England shares innovative approach to pest management

Leave a comment
On November 16, Historic New England’s Haverhill, Massachusetts-based collection services team hosted a sold-out program on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for museum professionals, interested members, and colleagues from all over New England.

The presentations featured entomologist Pat Kelley, vice president of Insects Limited, LLC, and Adam Osgood, collections technician for Historic New England. Pat presented a fascinating look at the history of IPM and its application in museum settings. He followed that with a riveting, up-close summary of our top insect pests, their behavior, and the damage to watch for, using real specimens, microscopes, and an identification quiz.

Adam’s presentation covered the new IPM initiatives that Historic New England implemented this season, including increased staff time, innovative strategies, and the testing of new products. Many of these new efforts were inspired by what Adam learned at the International IPM Conference held at the Louvre Museum in Paris in September 2016.

These experimental initiatives include an “IPM Champion” program, in which pheromone trap monitoring and data consolidation are used to identify pest activity, along with targeted, informed cleaning to remediate the problem. Historic New England designated staff who were trained in IPM practice, proper collection handling, and preventive conservation of objects to execute this program.

Another innovative tactic Adam tested this season was the use of insecticide-impregnated mosquito netting as a barrier against museum pests. This technology is used effectively on a global scale in developing nations to control mosquito-borne illnesses. Early results from the netting combined with entomological lab testing by Pat Kelley show great potential against museum pests. Historic New England’s findings on this material represent the first documented effective use of the product for this purpose in the United States and probably the first successful application against wood-boring beetle species internationally.

The program also included three small-group breakout sessions. Nicole Chalfant, collection manager for Historic New England, gave a behind-the-scenes look into our collection storage, highlighting parts where IPM is challenging. Pat ran a workshop on trap monitoring, and Adam led a tour of the Controlled Atmosphere Treatment facility including an up-close look at actual collection items with pest damage.

The capacity crowd of fifty was lively and engaged, affirming that Historic New England remains a leader in IPM for the region.

This information is re-posted from the Historic New England Blog with permission 

Share This: