Strategic plans
Stakeholder meeting
Missouri Invasive Forest Pest Council stakeholder meeting
The annual MIFPC stakeholder meeting convened on Jan. 30, 2017, at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Central Region Office in Columbia. Twenty-six attendees represented the following agencies or organizations:
- American Walnut Manufacturers Association
- Missouri Consulting Foresters Association
- Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA)
- Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)
- Missouri Department of Natural Resources
- Missouri Farm Bureau
- Missouri Forest Products Association
- Missouri Nut Growers Association
- University of Missouri Extension
- USDA APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA APHIS PPQ)
- USDA Forest Service (USDA FS)
- Walnut Council, Missouri chapter
Meeting presentations
Emerald Ash Borer, EAB, Update (PDF)
- Collin Wamsley, State Entomologist, MDA
- Sarah Phipps, Forest Pest Program Coordinator, MDA
Thousand Cankers Disease, TCD, Update (PDF)
- Collin Wamsley, State Entomologist, MDA
TCD Survey and Research Update (PDF)
- Simeon Wright, Forest Pathologist, MDC
Exotic Wood Boring and Bark Beetle Surveys (PDF)
- Christopher Pierce, Pest Survey Specialist, USDA APHIS PPQ
Invasive Pest Pathway Assessment and Survey Targeting (PDF)
- Christopher Pierce, Pest Survey Specialist, USDA APHIS PPQ
Invasive Forest Pest Outreach (PDF)
- Robbie Doerhoff, Forest Entomologist, MDC
Emerging Forest Pest Threats (PDF)
- Robbie Doerhoff, Forest Entomologist, MDC
Q&A session
Q: Regarding tree removal to reduce or eliminate TCD in other eastern states, especially Indiana and Ohio. Concern that there is no plan to remove walnut trees in the event of a detection.
A statement was added to the TCD action plan indicating the circumstances under which tree removal could be considered a response option. In Ohio, 4 TCD positive trees were removed for research purposes. Several other locations in Butler county have confirmed positive trees that have not been removed, some of which are nearly 10 miles from the original detection. Traps that caught many walnut twig beetles in 2013 caught very few twig beetles in 2015. More research needed to explain why this occurred. In Indiana, a couple walnut trees were cut for research purposes in the plantation where 3 weevils were positive for the Geosmithia fungus causing TCD. It would be impossible to identify trees to cut, since TCD has not been found there.
Q: Regarding a budget to address TCD. What would it cost to increase monitoring and outreach efforts? Could walnut twig beetle traps be provided to volunteers?
Member agencies each have separate funding and obtain additional funding for invasive forest pest surveys and outreach as opportunities arise. Agencies are not able to lobby state and federal legislatures. Traps are expensive, require servicing throughout the growing season, and sorting through the captured insects is a time-consuming process requiring trained personnel.
Q: Concern that the efforts to address pests needs to be prioritized by the value of the tree, need to compare value of ash to the value of walnut in Missouri.
In addition to the timber value, there are other costs to consider. For example, ash is widely planted in urban areas, municipalities are facing tremendous ash removal and replacement costs.
Q: Concern about quarantine awareness and enforcement.
MDA sent materials to mills and other out of state companies that move walnut and provided training materials to MO Highway Patrol.
Q: What is the viewpoint of industry and their role in addressing the threat of TCD.
Industry expressed concern about processes to safeguard wood.
Q: Requests were made to develop a landowner's guide to TCD and a single concise fact sheet with specifics on each invasive forest pest of concern.
The request was duly recorded.