June 23, 2017
CapitalPress.com
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Researcher uses tiny predators,
drones against strawberry pest
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
DAVIS, Calif. — A uni-
versity researcher is working
to enhance the effectiveness
of a natural treatment against
spider mites, a major pest in
California’s strawberry fields.
Chemical ecologist Elvi-
ra Simone de Lange of the
University of California-Da-
vis has received a three-year,
$249,878 federal grant to
use drones to detect spider
mite-related plant stress and
then target the pests with nat-
ural predators.
The predatory mites are
already widely used in the
strawberry industry but can
die quickly if they don’t find
prey, said de Lange, a post-
doctoral researcher in the
UC-Davis Department of En-
tomology and Nematology.
The drones can examine
large swaths of land all at
once and detect subtle dif-
ferences in the reflectance of
the strawberry canopy, which
indicates spider mite-induced
stress, she said.
“The project goal is to
demonstrate that drones can
Photo courtesy of UCANR
Chemical ecologist Elvira de Lange works in the Christian Nansen
Laboratory at the University of California-Davis. She is studying the
use of natural predators to combat spider mites in strawberry fields.
be used to improve spider
mite management and con-
trol, while at the same time
reducing the need for and reli-
ance on miticides,” de Lange
said in an email.
The drones used for the
project would be too expen-
sive for most growers to pur-
chase, but agricultural con-
sulting companies could offer
the service to growers, she
said.
The grant is from the
USDA’s Western Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Ed-
ucation Program — known
by the acronym SARE — and
will fund research through
March 2020, according to a
university news release.
The project comes as or-
ganic strawberry acreage in
California has increased rap-
idly each year since 2000 as
growers have moved away
from fumigants and pesti-
cides, although organic yields
have lagged behind those
of conventionally managed
farms.
But de Lange’s project
could help all strawberry
growers, as mites are not con-
trolled by fumigation, noted
Carolyn O’Donnell, spokes-
woman for the California
Strawberry Commission.
Several species of spider
mites infest the state’s straw-
berry fields, but the two-spot-
ted mite — Tetranychus ur-
ticae — is the predominant
species affecting fields on the
Central Coast, according to
the UC’s Statewide Integrated
Pest Management Program.
The mites suck plant juic-
es, resulting in smaller berries
and reduced yield. Mite-feed-
ing symptoms include dense
webbing and dry, brittle and
discolored leaves, the UC ex-
plains.
“Spider mites are a prob-
lem that can come and go,
depending on field sanitation
… and weather conditions,”
O’Donnell said, noting that
keeping weeds under control
can make a difference.
Experts outline nonlethal measures
to prevent wolves from killing cattle
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
HAT CREEK, Calif. — In
late 2015, seventh-generation
rancher Jessica Oddo’s family
was “unnerved” by California’s
first suspected wolf depredation
of a calf in Siskiyou County.
So last year, Oddo was
among several far Northern
California ranchers to attend a
California Wolf Center-spon-
sored training in Montana to
become range riders.
The riders take turns go-
ing out several times a week
looking for tracks, scat or oth-
er signs of wolves and other
wildlife that could harm cat-
tle, which enables producers
to move their livestock out of
danger if possible.
For Oddo, having a human
presence around to watch
for any wolf activity is best
because it helps ranchers re-
spond more quickly than if
they wait to be notified by
state wildlife managers, she
said.
“One of the most valuable
things the California Wolf
Center gave us was (access
to) a number of people who
have a long history of dealing
with wolves and livestock,”
Oddo told about 60 ranch-
ers at a June 14 workshop
on wolf-livestock conflicts.
“That’s been the problem for
us, that this is so new.”
The range rider program
was one of about a half-dozen
nonlethal measures for deal-
ing with wolves highlighted
at the all-day workshop. The
event, hosted by Shasta Coun-
ty, was held at a fire hall and
nearby cattle ranch in Hat
Creek, about 70 miles north-
east of Redding.
Livestock producers, gov-
ernment officials and univer-
sity researchers gave detailed
remarks about how to manage
herds and put up safeguards to
deter wolves and other preda-
tors. Among their advice:
• Managing herds so they
learn to stay together can give
them safety in numbers, said
Matt Barnes, a Bozeman,
Mont.-based rangeland con-
sultant. Wolves are less likely
to attack a large herd, but scat-
tered animals are easy prey,
he said.
With one herd he man-
aged, “we were right next to
a coyote den … and the cows
could mob up and run coyotes
off,” Barnes said.
• Some producers cordon
off their grazing cattle or
sheep with fladry — a line of
electrified cable with brightly
colored flags that flap in the
breeze. If the flags don’t dis-
courage predators, the slight
electric shock from the cable
might.
But fladry is expensive,
costing about $3,400 to pro-
tect a 40-acre pasture, and
“we don’t like to keep it up for
too long because the novelty
of it” will wear off, said John
Steuber, the Montana state
director for USDA Wildlife
Services.
• When a depredation or
animal death does occur, it’s
best to remove the carcass as
7
soon as possible so it doesn’t
attract more predators, Shas-
ta County agricultural com-
missioner Paul Kjos said. But
it’s illegal in California to
bury carcasses, and the near-
est rendering facilities are in
Sacramento or Portland, he
said.
The information from the
presenters was valuable, said
Betty Stephenson, whose
family has been ranching near
Bella Vista, Calif., since the
1850s. The operation hasn’t
encountered wolves, but large
dogs have killed a couple of
calves, she said.
“This is the first meeting
we’ve attended” on wolf-live-
stock conflicts, she said. “We
just want to know what’s go-
ing on. We want to know le-
gally what ranches can do.”
Cattlemen to urge Trump
to reconsider monuments
that impact grazing
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — A
cattlemen’s group wants
President Donald Trump’s
administration to recon-
sider national monument
designations in California
that have greatly impacted
grazing.
The California Cattle-
men’s Association is pre-
paring remarks to submit
during a public comment
period, which runs through
July 10, that will detail
what it sees as negative
impacts from the designa-
tions under the Antiquities
Act.
The organization wants
to hear from ranchers with
allotments on the lands that
have been affected.
“We’re actually going to
be advocating for most of
the monuments that were
listed in the (Federal) Reg-
ister to not necessarily be
rescinded, but to be dimin-
ished in size to an appropri-
ate level,” said Kirk Wilbur,
the CCA’s director of gov-
ernment affairs.
In particular, the CCA
would like Trump to recon-
sider the California Coastal
National Monument, which
was designated in 2000 by
President Bill Clinton and
later expanded by President
Barack Obama. The des-
ignation protects various
segments of the coastline
from Humboldt County to
Orange County.
“It’s less than 100,000
acres in total, so it wasn’t
included”
in
Trump’s
order,
Wilbur
said.
“But a lot of grazing
land is impacted there.
There is some suggestion
from my members and from
news articles that when the
Obama administration ex-
panded that, they were not
all that responsive to the
concerns of local commu-
nities.”
Nearly a dozen new
monument
designations
covering more than 3 mil-
lion acres have been made
in the state during the last
two decades, according to
the California Farm Bureau
Federation.
The CCA argues that
while the Antiquities Act
was originally intended to
protect historic landmarks
and other objects of his-
toric or scientific inter-
est, recent presidents have
used it to bypass Congress
and local communities
and place heavy restric-
tions on massive areas of
land.
Obama used the Antiq-
uities Act more than any
previous president, locking
up 256 million acres of land
and water in 30 separate
designations, according to
the CCA.
While language in the
designations often allows
for grazing, invariably
those grazing rights are sig-
nificantly curtailed, Wilbur
said.
“We’re not calling for a
wholesale reversal of na-
tional monument deigna-
tions,” he said. “I think we
recognize there are certain
antiquities in a lot of these
national monuments that
should be protected. But
we’re talking about protect-
ing historical or cultural rel-
ics, not necessarily tens of
thousands of acres.”
Producers whose graz-
ing operations have been
impacted by monument
designations are urged to
call the CCA at (916) 444-
0845.
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