CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The 2017 Illinois First Detector Workshop on invasive plants, diseases, and insects will be offered at eight Illinois sites beginning in January 2017.
In its fifth year, the workshop is being offered through University of Illinois Extension and coordinated in conjunction with the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS), the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and the Morton Arboretum. The one-day course teaches participants how to report potential invasive threats. Topics this year include invasive plants and human health, oak tree diseases, and emerging invasive forest insects.
The program focuses on current and new invasive pests, but also provides updates on previously covered topics, according to Kelly Estes, CAPS coordinator. The popular hands-on portion of the workshop allows participants to examine invasive species samples in detail and learn identification techniques that will help them to distinguish these invasive pests in the field. Workshop participants take the knowledge they acquire to their own communities.
“This program increases the eyes and ears in the field,” Estes said. “The threat of invasive species is large, and we can’t get to every corner of the state. Having many people take an interest in learning more about invasive species and how to report them is fantastic.”
In four years, 900 people have taken the workshop, and an estimated 108,000 additional people have become more aware of invasive species indirectly through the dissemination of information by the workshop participants.
Illinois locations, dates, and contact information include:
January 25 – Waterloo; Sarah Ruth (618-939-3434)
January 26 – Makanda; Maggie Rose (618-687-1727)
February 9 – Bloomington; Kelly Allsup (309-663-8306)
February 10 – Sterling; Bruce Black (815-632-3611)
February 14 – Lisle; Sarah Navrotski (630-955-1123)
February 15 – Orland Park; Margaret Burns-Westmeyer (708-679-6894)
February 22 – Pekin; Jason Haupt or Christine Belless (309-547-3711)
February 23 – Taylorville; Andrew Holsinger (217-532-3941)
The $40 registration fee includes instruction, an on-site lunch, and training materials. This year, a student rate of $25 is offered. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are also available. The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Media contact: Kelly Estes, (217) 333-1005; kcook8@illinois.edu
This program and materials are based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture and coordinated by Kelly Estes, state survey coordinator, IL CAPS Program at the Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, and Diane Plewa, Plant Clinic diagnostician and outreach coordinator, Department of Crop Sciences. Additional support for this program will be provided by Christopher Evans, extension forester, University of Illinois, Scott Schirmer, plant and pesticide specialist supervisor, Illinois Department of Agriculture, and Tricia Bethke, forest pest outreach coordinator, Morton Arboretum.
Photo credit: Tom Coleman, USDA Forest Service, bugwood.org