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 cert ain 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

• 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
Adam Champ, 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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Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) Click on above to learn more about HWA. HWA Management Plan Click on above to view pdf.

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. Rose, Forest Pathologist and CFHP Program Coordinator
Timothy Tomon, Forest Entomologist
Jeanette Gooch, Plant Industries Division Technician
Kristen Carrington, Forest 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.

AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

WEST VIRGINIA GYPSY MOTH QUARANTINE (Amended March 6, 2008) West Virginia Gypsy Moth Quarantine Map (Amended March 6, 2008) Gypsy Moth Suppression Program IN PRINTABLE PDF FORMAT Click on below picture to view Program. Egg Mass Survey Request Application Click on the above to view Application.

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

Region 2
Thomas Pownall, Supervisor
William H. Geiger, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Marla G. Harriman, Forest Health Protection Specialist

Region 3
Vacant, Supervisor
W. Martin Arbaugh, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Michael Bing, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Clint Ferguson, Forest Health Protection Specialist
Vacant, 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

• 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