The mission of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Weed Integrated Pest Management Project is to research, develop, and implement strategies for controlling exotic and nuisance weed species through all strategies available, i.e., early detection/survey, cultural, mechanical, chemical, and biological means.
The
MDA Weed IPM program (WIPM) was formed to assist landowners and
managers in developing practical IPM strategies for dealing with
nuisance plant species throughout Minnesota. The WIPM is
responsible for the statewide coordination and implementation of
the following activities:
- Establishing and evaluating biological control for terrestrial
weed species.
- Conducting and coordinating annual surveys for nuisance and
invasive weed species.
- Developing research and demonstration projects to evaluate weed
IPM methodologies.
- Providing education, training, and outreach for professional
and private land managers.
The WIPM has active biological control programs for leafy spurge
and spotted knapweed. These programs are cooperator-based
and depend on the commitment of local entities to monitor for weed
infestations, request biological control agents for releases in
their area, and monitor sites following releases to determine establishment
of agents and biological control success. The WIPM coordinates
statewide collection and redistribution efforts for biological control
agents and annually collects cooperator information pertaining to
agent releases and site monitoring data that aids in tracking the
distribution and impacts of these bioagents over time.
In addition to active biological control programs, the WIPM is
currently researching the potential for developing a biological
control program for common tansy, an invasive weed of upland terrestrial
landscapes. Exploration for potential biological control agents
would occur in tansy’s native range by European partners. This
project is an international effort driven by a consortium of US
and Canadian agencies and organizations. Coordination of funding
and dissemination of information will be handled for Canadian parties
through the Alberta Invasive Plant Council and for parties within
the United States by the WIPM. This work is in the initial
stage and will require a significant partnership among the U.S.
and Canadian parties to secure resources for overseas exploration
and host-specificity testing of potential bioagents.
Two research projects have been developed to examine the impacts
that several species of insect biological control agents are having
on spotted knapweed and Canada thistle in the state. The Legislative
Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR) has provided funding for
a WIPM research project to investigate the current status of spotted
knapweed biological control in Minnesota. This research began
in 2003 and a detailed report is currently being generated for LCMR
to highlight specific findings from this study. The WIPM has
also initiated a research project in northwest Minnesota to test
the efficacy of Hadroplontus litura, a biological control
agent being released in portions of the Midwest for management of
Canada thistle.
One important tool for any IPM program is the use of surveys to
identify pest thresholds and management needs. To improve
the methodologies for tracking and recording weed distributions,
emergence, and shifts in weed types over time, the WIPM has developed
a mobile global positioning system/geographic information system
(GPS/GIS) for mapping important weeds throughout the state. Currently,
several Minnesota counties, state and federal personnel, and private
non-profit groups are teaming-up with the WIPM to survey a variety
of weed species throughout the state. The WIPM is developing
an ArcIMS web site dedicated to statewide weed data management that
will allow land managers to upload their field survey data and have
the ability to query specific data for their management needs. The
goal of this project is to accumulate weed presence and absence
data by species to allow land managers and policy makers to make
more informed decisions concerning invasive, exotic, and noxious
weeds in Minnesota. |
