Conserving the Three P's: Habitat Conservation Practices for Beneficial Predators, Parasites, and Pollinators

Conserving the Three P's: Habitat Conservation Practices for Beneficial Predators, Parasites, and Pollinators

Summary

The project partners are providing a minimum of four workshops per year, for two years, in Oregon for staff from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Farm Services Administration, and Oregon State University Extension Service. These workshops address how to enhance conservation buffers and other on-farm habitats to increase populations of beneficial insects, specifically populations of native bees and populations of the predators and parasites of crop pests. In concert with these workshops, we are providing one-on-one technical assistance to agricultural professionals to address project-specific needs.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Workshop Phase 1 (2008) – Overall habitat needs and diagnostics: We will conduct four workshops in which we provide participants with an overview of the habitat requirements and conservation of these beneficial insects. Each workshop will be all-day and will include two 1-hour presentations (one on pollinator conservation and one on predators and parasites of crop pests) and a 2-hour field trip to a nearby farm to apply lessons learned in the presentations to a real habitat.

2. Workshops Phase 2 (2009) – Management for beneficial insects in the field: In year 2 of this project, we will organize four all-day workshops which will go into greater detail on site specific needs for providing habitat for beneficial insects. For this workshop, we will prepare specifications for the implementation of beneficial insectaries, appropriate for each location, and work with participants to develop conservation plans for projects and growers they bring to the workshop.

3. On-going technical support: As a follow up to these workshops, we will provide direct technical assistance to field staff of the NRCS, SWCD, and other farm agencies. This assistance will include developing locally appropriate plant lists, tailored to provide the greatest benefit to beneficial insects. We will also conduct site visits at specific farms to determine the opportunities for providing other habitat features (e.g. nest sites, pesticide refugia, overwintering habitat, etc.) for beneficial insects.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The first year of this project has been very successful. The project partners presented day-long workshops in four regions across Oregon: Columbia Gorge (The Dalles), Klamath Basin (Klamath Falls), Willamette Valley (Lebanon), and Southern Oregon (Central Point). Each workshop was well attended and received.

The workshops all followed the same basic format with PowerPoint presentations and discussions during the morning, followed by a farm tour in the afternoon. The morning presentations—one on pollinators, one on predators and parasites of crop pests—gave a summary of the current research in each field, an introduction to the diversity and ecology of the insects, an overview of conservation steps that can be taken to promote these beneficial insects, and information about Farm Bill conservation programs that can support the restoration or enhancement of habitat. The farm tours allowed participants to see insects and their habitat in a farm landscape and provided an opportunity to discuss the practicalities of integrating beneficial insect conservation plans into diverse farming operations.

• two of our brochures (Farming for Pollinators and Farming for Pest Management),

  information on the toxicity of various pesticides to beneficial insects (i.e., predators and parasites of pests),

  a summary of how NRCS conservation programs and practices can be used for pollinator conservation,

  a fact sheet on research into the role of native bees for crop pollination,

  a natural enemies pocket identification guide, and

  a list of resources for pollinator conservation downloadable from the internet.

  We also included a summary of farm management practices from each farm we visited (prepared by the grower) and a workshop evaluation form.

Our target audience was two-fold: agricultural support professionals (principally NRCS and SWCD staff) and growers. The four workshops attracted more than 110 participants. (See table 1 for details.) Growers and NRCS and SWCD staff made up the bulk of these, but private crop consultants, staff of the Oregon Department of Agriculture and OSU Cooperative Extension, representatives of local nonprofits, and beekeepers also participated. In addition, three representatives from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization attended the workshop in The Dalles.

Table 1: Attendance at the four workshops held during 2008 (Please see attachments)

Included in the attachments is a table showing the average change in skills and abilities expressed by workshop attendees in their workshop evaluation forms. (Scale of 1 to 7, where 1 = no ability or skill, 7 = very able or skilled.)

• Fifty-one people attended.

  The presentations were held at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center.

  The afternoon farm visit was hosted by Mel and Mike Omeg at the Copper Orchard unit of Omeg Orchards.

  Mike Omeg shared his experience of providing habitat for beneficial insects in cherry orchards, work that resulted in acceptance of a 2007 Pollinator Advocate Award.

• Twenty people attended.

  The presentations were held at the Klamath Community College.

  The afternoon farm visit was hosted by staff of the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, where they demonstrated beneficial insect habitat in their research fields and discussed some of the constraints of farming in the area.

• Eighteen people attended.

  Both the morning presentations and afternoon farm walk were held at Persephone Farm.

  Elanor O’Brien, a farmer at Persephone, led the farm walk, sharing her experience and knowledge of providing insect habitat within the diverse vegetable crops grown on the farm.

• Twenty-eight people attended.

  The presentations were held at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center.

  The afternoon farm visit was hosted by Ed Vaughn at Vaughn Farm and Orchard. Mr. Vaughan led the farm tour, describing the practices he employs for beneficial insects in his pear orchards.

These workshops were the first phase of a two-phase program. We will be returning to three of these regions (Columbia Basin, Southern Oregon, and Willamette Valley) during the summer of 2009 to present more detailed training sessions on habitat conservation planning. These will focus on the details of preparing farm conservation plans that address the needs of beneficial insects and integrating conservation biological control practices with farm production plans. Each event will focus on the habitat needs of a specific farm (an NRCS conservation planner will help identify the farmer and help develop a specific farm plan). During each workshop we will develop conservation plans for beneficial insects for a specific farm, utilizing NRCS-approved and farmer-generated conservation practices.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The content of these workshops and technical support is designed to reduce, “where feasible and practical, the use of toxic materials in agricultural production by optimizing on-farm resources and integrating, where appropriate, biological cycles and controls.” In addition, the conservation methods we are teaching help conserve and protect soil and water, provide habitat for wildlife, and maintain and improve the quality of ground water. Because these habitat improvements are designed to benefit the bottom line of growers, they are also incentives for growers to allocate land and resources to natural resource conservation. Finally, the habitat features we are promoting in these workshops can become valuable marketing tools for growers, who will be able to show that their efforts on behalf of predatory, parasitic, and pollinator insects reduces the reliance of their farms on pesticides and increases habitat for wildlife—actions that appeal to a growing number of consumers.

Surveys of the growers with whom we collaborate demonstrate repeatedly their need for technical support. Growers – and staff of the NRCS and SWCDs – often report that they are interested in implementing beneficial insect habitat or enhancing non-crop areas of their farm to benefit these insects, but that they lack the confidence in being able to design project. Growers and their conservation supporters want to be given a recipe for how to implement these projects efficiently. These workshops and technical support (i.e. beneficial insect habitat establishment protocols) are vital to increasing project implementation across the west.

Collaborators: