Progress report for WPDP24-028
Project Information
Orthoptera – a diverse insect Order including grasshoppers and crickets – is ecologically important yet can cause substantial harm to farmers and ranchers. Orthoptera has been identified as a key pest group threatening agricultural and non-agricultural areas in the West. Of the estimated 400 species found in western states, only a handful cause economic damage; even so, impacts are realized across millions of acres during outbreak years. To minimize losses and reduce the health and environmental risks associated with their control, training should focus on integrated pest management, recommending that chemical applications be applied only against their vulnerable life stages and at appropriate thresholds. Hence, education within the agricultural community is needed to best accomplish these goals.
As part of the initial project, we proposed “to hold five train-the-trainers workshops focusing on Orthoptera identification, survey methods, and management throughout Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Participants expected included Extension faculty, State and Federal government field staff, crop consultants, and certified Master Gardeners. Training was expected to provide a minimum of 800 additional training hours to their regional communities, using self-collected Orthoptera specimens and online and printed Extension resources developed as part of this program.”
Despite intense social media advertisements and support from local Extension offices, the in-person training sessions were canceled due to low enrollment. Low participation coincides with the climate of federal funding restrictions, job uncertainty, and more. After careful consideration and a meeting with WSARE administration, the Principal Investigators of this project (Sotelo-Cardona, Rondon, and Marshall) proposed transitioning and restructuring the initial implementation plan for the proposal; this request was approved by WSARE. This new approach included moving in-person training online and offering interactive training through a Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) program hosted at Oregon State University. It was established that the PACE team will collaborate with the Oregon IPM Center to create, host, and manage an online, self-paced pesticide recertification course focused on integrated pest management (IPM) for grasshoppers.
Initial objectives and outcomes of the project
After the short course, participants will
- Identify all major Orthoptera pest species found within their target regions, including their adult forms and nymphal stages.
- Differentiate pest species from non-pest species.
- Learned current IPM techniques used to monitor and manage Orthoptera outbreaks.
- Direct their audiences to appropriate online and mobile app materials when making their own Orthoptera management choices.
Within a year of attending the short course, participants will have
- Built specimen collections of regionally recovered Orthoptera species, to be used as an in-house teaching tool when disseminating information to their audience of growers, ranchers, and gardeners. Specimen collections will be verified by an Orthoptera taxonomic specialist.
- Collectively delivered a minimum of 800 hours of training about IPM principles as they relate to Orthoptera management in their home communities.
This project will furthermore establish relationships between the trainers and the Oregon State Arthropod Collection to increase our understanding of the diversity and distribution of Orthoptera species within the region.
Modify objectives and outcomes of the project
After restructuring the project as an online interactive course, our objectives were slightly modified as follows:
- Identify all major Orthoptera pest species found within their target regions, including their adult forms and nymphal stages (PACE Modules 2 and 3)
- Differentiate pest species from non-pest species (PACE Module 2 and 3)
- Learned current IPM techniques used to monitor and manage Orthoptera outbreaks. (PACE Module 1)
- Direct their audiences to appropriate online and mobile app materials when making their own Orthoptera management choices. (PACE Module 4)
Long-term objective 1: Each participant registered in the PACE course will receive an insect collection kit. A total of 100 collection kits will be shipped, with shipping costs covered by the modified budget. To achieve this goal, we are requesting that the budget be reallocated from travel to shipping. This is because the teaching efforts will not require travel to training sites; instead, we will send the grasshopper collection kits to participants registered for the PACE online course.
Long-term objective 2 for IPM training on Orthoptera. This objective would involve establishing a tracking system to certify the number of hours each participant spends delivering information to their home communities. Originally, we had a limit of 100 participants; each participant would need to deliver 8-10 hours of IPM training or related activities. To fulfill this objective, we will actively discuss with the Master Gardeners Program at Oregon State University to determine whether registered participants in Oregon can receive certification hours for delivering information in their local communities as an incentive. In addition, the Oregon IPM Center will establish an accountability system. More on our next report.
The project timeline has been revised following careful consideration and a meeting with WSARE administration. The Principal Investigators of this project—Sotelo-Cardona, Rondon, and Marshall—proposed a transition and restructuring of the initial implementation plan for the proposal. This request has been approved by WSARE. This new approach included moving in-person training online and offering interactive training through a Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) program hosted at Oregon State University.
The adjusted timeline, as of January 2026, is found here: Project timeline 2026 revised
Original Timeline
| April 2024 | Contact agricultural professionals to finalize training needs |
| May & June 2024 |
Publicize 2024 short-course (e.g. mailing list, social media, professional societies sites). Purchase, produce, and distribute materials. |
| August 2024 |
Train-the-Trainer Short-Courses, 2024:
Visiting taxonomist specializing in Orthoptera ID curates specimens, and provides additional training to OSAC on identification of novel species. |
| September to December 2024 |
Follow-up with 2024 attendees; collections (photos or specimens) sent to OSAC. Produce Extension Orthoptera Identification and IPM Management Guides; send for peer-review & printing. |
| April to June 2025 |
Publicize 2025 short-course (e.g. mailing list, social media, professional societies sites). Purchase, produce, and distribute materials. Distribute Extension Guides to 2024 attendees for their local trainings. Trainings start in June. |
| July & August 2025 |
Train-the-Trainer Short-Courses, 2025:
Perform periodic check-ins and monitor for reporting of local trainings completed by 2024 participants. |
| September 2025 |
Final survey of 2024 participants to obtain results of local training efforts, ways to improve extension resources, and identify future training topics. Follow-up with 2025 attendees; collections (photos or specimens) sent to OSAC. |
| September to December 2025 | Evaluate training materials. |
| April to June 2026 | Distribute Extension Guides to 2025 attendees for their local training sessions.
Trainings start in June. |
| July & August 2026 | Perform periodic check-ins and monitor for reporting of local trainings completed by 2025 participants. |
| September 2026 | Final survey of 2025 participants to obtain results of local training efforts, ways to improve extension resources, and identify future training topics. |
| October & November 2026 |
Summary of all participant responses, products, & outreach. Prepare and submit journal publication demonstrating program efficacy. |
| March 2027 |
Final report to WSARE. |
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
Education
PACE design
Course designers (s)
Module 1 Paola Sotelo-Cardona, OSU Oregon IPM Center
Module 2 Christopher Marshall, OSU, Oregon State Arthropod Collection Curator
Module 3 Christopher Marshall, OSU, Oregon State Arthropod Collection Curator
Module 4 Silvia I. Rondon, OSU Oregon IPM Center Director
Intended audience: Agricultural specialists, extension faculty, government field staff, crop consultants, and other interested participants.
Goals:
- Understand integrated pest management fundamentals.
- Apply IPM components.
- Recognize the importance of grasshopper management in the PNW.
Program outcome statement: Educators will teach agriculture specialists the skills to identify, survey, and implement IPM management principles for grasshoppers.
Expectations: Online participants will collect grasshoppers at different stages. Collection materials will be provided for the first 100 PACE course-registered participants.
Course Type: Online, Self-Paced
Duration: 1 hour/per module (total 4)
Certificate: Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) Assessments.
Budget: To achieve this goal, we request a transition from travel to course design, as teaching efforts will focus on developing the PACE online modules rather than traveling to training sites. The cost of each PACE module was also included.
- Course structure and format
Module 1: Introduction to integrated pest management and grasshopper management (Sotelo-Cardona, Rondon). Overview of course structure and goals (status: finalized and under revision by PACE designers).
Lesson 1: Introduction to IPM
- What is IPM
- Why use IPM
- PAMS Framework (Prevention, Avoidance, Monitoring, Suppression)
- Summary and knowledge check
Lesson 2: Understanding Insects First
- Introduction to grasshoppers
- Importance of grasshoppers
- Summary and knowledge check
Lesson 3: Grasshopper biology
- Taxonomy
- Anatomy
- Grasshoppers’ life cycle
- Summary and knowledge check
Lesson 4: Primary crops affected by grasshoppers
- Grasses
- Cereals
- Legumes
- Vegetables
- Forbs
- Shrubs
- Summary and knowledge check
Lesson 5: Grasshoppers Management: IPM Strategies
- Cultural Control
- Physical Control
- Biological Control
- Chemical Control
- Use of Decision Support Tools
- Summary and knowledge check
Lesson 6: Module summary and knowledge check
Module 2: Grasshopper Biology and Identification (Marshall) (Status: ongoing)
- Introduction to PNW Orthoptera diversity
- Key species of Pacific Northwest Orthoptera
- Identification tips and tools (ID field guide)
- Image quiz: Identify species from photos
- Module 2A (juveniles)
- Module 2B (Adults)
Module 3: Creating a Grasshopper collection (Marshall) (Status: ongoing)
Module 4: Monitoring and Thresholds (Rondon, Sotelo-Cardona) (Status: 80% complete; it will be finished next month and sent to PACE for revision.)
- Scouting techniques and timing (sweep net sampling and development of monitoring worksheet)
- Population thresholds for action
- Mapping and recording observations
- Phenology models
The PACE team will provide regular monthly Continuing Education Unit (CEU) reporting to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) on behalf of the program. This program is designed to meet ODA recertification course specifications, which require a minimum length of 50 minutes and include a final comprehensive exam.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Participants in the training will be able to identify all major Orthoptera pest species found within their target regions, including their adult forms and nymphal stages.
- An extension course has been designed to cover this objective.
- Timothy McNary, the Orthoptera curator from the C. P. Gillette Museum at Colorado State University, traveled to Oregon State University July 2024 to work with Christopher Marshall from OSAC (https://new-test.osac.oregonstate.edu/) to confirm the identification and curation of the grasshopper collection and revise the historical material that will be used as part of the teaching material on all training sites.
- As part of the grasshopper collection efforts needed for the teaching training materials, two volunteers and extension personnel from OSU at Eastern and Southern Oregon (Amanda Woodlee and Nicole Sanchez) sent grasshopper material to OSAC for curation, identification, and preservation.
- An undergraduate student, Phoebe Richards, developed a poster Richards URSA poster FINAL final on grasshopper identification. It was presented during the Spring Poster Symposium on Thursday, May 16, as part of OSU's URSA Engage program (https://undergradresearch.oregonstate.edu/ursa-engage).
After the training, agriculture specialists will have the skills to identify, survey Orthoptera pests in the Pacific Northwest.
Participants will learn the essential knowledge of Orthoptera distribution and ecological significance, as well as about the biology, life cycles, morphological characteristics, geographical range, and their ecological significance.
With the basic knowledge of insect morphology, participants will learn about the most important aspects of Orthoptera, differentiating major suborders and facilitating recognition of different important groups within Orthoptera.
With the essential knowledge about this group, participants will be able to ID main species, monitor pest, understand the phenology of the insects to be able to use decision support tools to predict outbreaks. They will also learn the fundamentals of principles of pest management to choose appropriate control options.
Participants in the training will be able to differentiate pest species from non-pest species.
- An extension course has been designed to cover this objective.
-
Grasshoppers and related Orthoptera (e.g., Mormon crickets) have been identified as one of the main issues affecting producers (e.g., forage, grass seed, alfalfa, and the cattle industry) across the region. Correct identification is the basis of all integrated pest management programs.
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With the help of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (Todd Adams and Thomas Valente), who have been tracking grasshopper populations for several years (https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/IPPM/SurveyTreatment/Pages/GrasshoppersCrickets.aspx), we will use the data to explain the use of decision-support tools (USPest. org).
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The Oregon IPM Center is actively participating in the Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Advisory Group created by ODA. This emergency working group was created to respond to producers' needs during an outbreak of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets in 2024 (capitalpress.com).
- The Oregon IPM Center is connecting and coordinating activities with ODA and extension to help us with these events, Oregon IPM Center: IPM News for June 2024
With the essential knowledge of taxonomic keys, adult and nymphal stages, and Orthoptera identification, participants will identify specimens at the family and species levels and determine whether the species is a pest or non-pest. Participants will identify pests from non-pest Orthoptera to scout and adequately manage grasshopper outbreaks in at-risk regions.
Material will be created in the form of pictorial fact sheets that will be posted on the Oregon IPM Center website
https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/oipmc/grasshopper-workshop-2024.
Participants in the training will have learned current IPM techniques used to monitor and manage Orthoptera outbreaks.
An extension course has been designed to cover this objective.
The program includes an integrated pest management chapter, where participants learn about the basics of pest management. Phenology and the use of decision-support tools will also be part of the pest management package.
Participants will be able to navigate the decision support tool system already available at the USPEST.ORG Web Server Home Page.
With the essential knowledge of IPM theory and strategies for Orthoptera control, pesticide management, and degree day modeling to predict the emergence of grasshoppers, participants will learn current IPM techniques used to monitor and manage Orthoptera outbreaks.
Participants will receive a list of all the resources available to help them prepare to train the next generation of trainees around the "grasshopper' theme.
An extension course has been designed to cover this objective.
All main resources that participants can use in their own training efforts will be available online at the Oregon IPM Center website: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/oipmc/grasshopper-workshop-2024. All information will be freely available and regularly reviewed for accuracy (peer-reviewed).
With the essential knowledge of the identification of Orthoptera using online tools, participants will implement the acquired knowledge by training their audiences to use online and mobile app materials to identify and manage Orthoptera pests.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation summary:
Project Outcomes
We currently have no outcomes to report or measure beyond those identified in the Extension Program. However, the project includes a well-structured method to evaluate the knowledge gained by our participants after completing our courses, which will be reported later.
Accomplishments reported back in June 2025
- Oregon IPM Center, IPM Educator Paola Sotelo-Cardona was assigned as the coordinator of the WSARE Grasshopper program.
- Dr. Tim McNary, grasshopper taxonomist and curator specialist from the C. P. Gillette Museum at Colorado State University, spent three days with Christopher Marshall, curator of the Oregon State Arthropod Collection (Corvallis, OR), identifying Orthoptera species that were going to be used during training.
- Program design
Instructors:
- Paola Sotelo-Cardona, OSU Oregon IPM Center Educator.
- Christopher Marshal, OSU Oregon State Arthropod Collection Curator.
- Thomas Valente, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Entomologist.
- Silvia I. Rondon, OSU Oregon IPM Center Director.
Guest lecturers
- Len Coop, OSU Oregon IPM Center, entomologist.
- Brittany Barker, OSU Oregon IPM Center, pest modeler.
- Armando Falcon-Brindis, University of Idaho, entomologist.
- Four sites were selected for the in-person training: Klamath Falls, Madras, OR; Prosser, WA; and Parma, ID.
- Person of contact on each training site:
- Klamath Falls, OR, Nicole Sanchez and Brian Charlton.
- Madras, OR, Jeremiah Dung and Gordon Jones.
- Prosser, WA, Tim Waters.
- Parma, ID, Armando Falcon-Brindis.
- All events were advertised on https://events.oregonstate.edu/calendar, LinkedIn, the Oregon IPM Center website, local ag newsletters, through extension personnel in regional offices, and during external meetings and events.
- The Oregon IPM Center created a website with all relevant information https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/oipmc/grasshopper-workshop-series-2025
- All the training materials were purchased. E.g., collection boxes, sweeping nets. Refer to the complete list in the proposal.
- Lectures and programs were created.
- Credits from the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) were awarded (4-8 credits, depending on the State).
Several clients have reached out after seeing fliers about our upcoming workshop series to secure a spot. Our team believes that this series could serve as a template for delivering similar training on other important pest management topics needed by our constituents.
We thank WSARE for allowing us to revise this project's timeline and for their flexibility in permitting the Oregon IPM Center to update the grasshopper training series. This adjustment will help us meet the project's goals.