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Gary W. Gibson, Director
Celestine Ervin, Executive
Assistant
The West Virginia
Department of Agriculture's Plant Industries Division protects the State’s agricultural interests and forest lands from destructive insects, plant diseases, noxious weeds, and other pest organisms through pest detection, survey, identification, and control efforts and by enforcing regulations that have been promulgated to protect our crops and forests (both urban and rural). Many of the programs within the Division operate under authority granted by the West Virginia Plant Pest Act (Chapter 19, Section12 of the Code of West Virginia) and the West Virginia Noxious Weed Act (Chapter19, Section 12D of the Code of West Virginia).
The Division is composed
of the following two units:
Agricultural
Pest Survey Program
Sherri Hutchinson, Assistant Director
Melea Brown, Administrative Assistant
Forest
Health Protection Programs
Clark
Haynes, Assistant Director
Kelly Riffe, Administrative Assistant
Agricultural Pest Survey Programs Unit
The mission of the Agricultural Pest Survey Programs Unit is to
carry out the provisions of certain agricultural laws and to enforce
the rules, regulations and quarantines that have resulted from these
laws. These include the following:
In carrying out these laws, rules, regulations and quarantines, the unit cooperates with Federal, state and local government agencies.
Individual programs and their primary objectives follow:
Black Fly Control Program
Elizabeth "Betsy" Reeder, Black Fly Control Coordinator
- Significantly reduce the black fly population in southeastern
West Virginia without adversely affecting non-target aquatic organisms
within the area of treatment.
- Conduct black fly treatments from about mid-March until early
October.
- Conduct pre-treatment and post-treatment stream monitoring.
- Document black fly treatments and related activities.
Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Program
Terry R. Carrington, Agricultural Survey Entomologist
David Dick, Agricultural Weed Specialist
Vacant, Agricultural Plant Pathologist
- Conduct agricultural crop insect, disease and weed surveys.
- Monitor agricultural crop insect and disease conditions using
pheromone traps, blacklight traps, etc.
- Monitor for foreign pest introductions.
- Participate in export enhancement programs.
- Provide information and/or control recommendations on agricultural
pest problems.
Pest Identification Laboratory
Dr. Berry A. Crutchfield, Plant/Pest Biologist
Laura R. Miller, Taxonomic Entomologist
- Identify insects, plant diseases, weeds and other pests.
- Provide information and/or control recommendations on identified
problems.
- Maintain a permanent reference collection of insects, plant
diseases and weeds.
- Maintain a speakers' bureau for presentations to school indoor and outdoor classrooms,
garden clubs, and other organizations.
- Prepare news releases for the media and educational/news articles
for The Market Bulletin.
- Respond to inquiries from the media for interviews or programs
on topics of interest.
Plant Pest Regulatory Program
Eric W. Ewing, Plant Pest Regulatory Program Supervisor
Michael C. Arnold, Plant Regulatory Officer
Alison Lowman, Plant Regulatory Officer
Jody Wilson, Emerald Ash Borer Regulatory Officer
Enforce those provisions of The West Virginia Plant Pest Act that
pertain to the distribution of plant material as follows:
- Inspect nursery stock for the purpose of detecting and preventing
the spread of injurious plant pests.
- Conduct the annual registration of all in-state nurseries and
nursery dealers.
- Enforce all state plant quarantines.
- Publish a listing of all in-state registered nurseries and nursery
dealers.
- Provide information to the nursery and Christmas tree industries
on the control of plant pests.
- Enforce the provisions of The West Virginia Noxious Weed Act.
- Provide Federal regulatory services under cooperative agreements
with the USDA.
- Certify plant material for out-of-state movement.
- Provide support for the issuing of permits to move live plant pests.
- Enforce the provisions of the West Virginia Gypsy Moth Quarantine and Federal Gypsy Moth Quarantine.
- Enforce the provisions of the State and Federal Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine.
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Forest Health Protection Programs Unit
The mission of the Forest Health Protection Programs Unit is to
provide for forest insect and disease surveillance and detection
programs, and, when necessary, to plan and conduct forest pest suppression
and/or abatement programs under the authority of the West Virginia
Plant Pest Act (Chapter 19, Article 12 of the Code of West Virginia,
as amended). The unit participates in several formal agreements
with the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
and cooperates with the West Virginia Division of Forestry and the
West Virginia University (WVU) Division of Plant and Soil Sciences,
Entomology and Plant Pathology Departments in conducting surveys, identifying causal agents, delimiting
infestations, planning control programs and assisting the citizens
of West Virginia in forest insect and disease related problems.
Individual programs and their primary objectives follow:
Cooperative Forest Health Protection (CFHP) Program
Jill A. Hoff, Forest Pathologist and CFHP Program Coordinator
Karen Kish, Forest Entomologist
Jeanette Gooch, Plant Industries Division Technician
- Conduct forest insect and disease surveys.
- Monitor forest pest conditions.
- Forecast economically important forest insect and disease problems.
- Provide information and/or control recommendations on forest
pest problems.
Gypsy Moth Program
Quentin F. Sayers, Program Manager
Field Staff
Region 1
Quentin F. Sayers, Supervisor
G. Scott Hoffman, Forest Health Protection Specialist
James G. Judy, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Tina Long, Forest Health Protection Specialist
H. Arnold Mills, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Susan Parker, Forest Health Protection Specialist
John E. Warner, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Region 2
Thomas Pownall, Supervisor
William H. Geiger, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Marla G. Harriman, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Region 3
Mark E. Sims, Supervisor
W. Martin Arbaugh, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Michael Bing, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Clint Ferguson, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Sam Herold, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Jeffrey S. Johnson, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Barry C. Kesecker, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Region 4
Timothy L. Brown, Supervisor
Mark L. Fugate, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Steve Erskine, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Region 5
Timothy L. Brown, Acting Supervisor
Kerry Bailey, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Mark E. McGinnis, Forest Health Protection Specialist
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- Survey and detect gypsy moth populations using pheromone traps,
tree bands and egg mass surveys.
- Suppress potentially damaging gypsy moth populations.
- Monitor suppressed gypsy moth populations and a range of non-target
species.
- Monitor and record gypsy moth defoliation.
- Implement integrated pest management strategies to slow the
spread of the gypsy moth through the National Gypsy Moth Slow
the Spread (STS) Program.
- Eradicate isolated, incipient gypsy moth populations.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Section
Shawn McCauley, GIS Specialist
- Provide data capture, mapping and reporting support for all
forest health protection programs, with the emphasis on gypsy
moth, and other Plant Industries Division programs as time allows.
- Use computer-based GIS (ARC/Info) and database (Oracle and Access)
software and multiple hardware peripherals to complete data analysis
and mapping.
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West Virginia Department of Agriculture
Plant Industries Division
1900 Kanawha Blvd., E.
Charleston, WV 25305-0191
(304)558-2212
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