While presenting a workshop on freezer treatment for pests in collections, I asked attendees to raise their hands if they had an existing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan at their institution. Not a single person raised their hand – which surprised me.
According to the comprehensive MuseumPests.net:
“Up to 54% of collections have reported damage from pests. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a proactive preventive approach that dramatically reduces pests in your building and increases safety to staff and visitors by reducing the use of pesticides, which saves your institution money in the long-term.”
Over the past decade, the MuseumPests.net website has grown from a simple pestlist to a robust resource for all things relating to collections insects and their mitigation. From Prevention, Monitoring, Identification & Treatment to Conferences and Working Groups – the website has truly become one-stop shopping for understanding the who, what, when, how, and why of your IPM needs.
Establishing an IPM:
Although the development and implementation process sounds intimidating, it can be scaled to your institution’s budget and available manpower. (I find manpower and time to be an IPM program’s largest resource commitment.) Getting up and running can be as simple as drawing a floor plan of your museum, purchasing and placing some sticky traps (I prefer tent-style Trapper Monitor & Insect Glue Traps) in pertinent places, checking the traps on schedule, and then identifying and documenting your finds. Once established, checking and replacing the traps regularly becomes the most time and human resource-heavy part of the program.
Pest Identification:
OK, so we’ve caught some pests – how do we identify them? Two of the museums I’ve worked at in the past have been lucky enough to have entomologists on staff – but lacking an institutional insect expert, there are many free resources to tap into online:
MuseumPests.net – robust resources for pest identification. I strongly recommend subscribing to the PestList email distribution list, it’s filled with fun images of insects your colleagues have found, and experts that will help identify yours!
Documentation:
Documentation can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or, if your budget is a bit more flush, a dedicated subscription program such as ZaksZPestTracker.
As comprehensive as the site is: MuseumPests.net does not offer experts who can help set up an IPM for you – that’s where we come in! We’ve advised, developed, implemented and monitored IPM’s for many institutions. Contact us if we can help you with yours!
