Guam - Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Program

Incident Command - Situation Report

Sept 15, 2010

Incident Command

Dallas Berringer:

  • Biassy being conducted this week by Troy.
  • Appreciation/Award ceremony this week Thursday (9/16/2010) to acknowledge CRB Program, AQI, SITC, CAPS, Collaborating Identifiers, and the Plant inspection Facility.

Roland Quitugua:

  • Fumigation conducted on August 25th, a total of 9,160cuft.
  • Inquiry on usage of fumigated green waste materials for Northern/Southern Soil District farmers.

AubreyMoore:

  • Second strain of virus inoculation completed on 40 beetles, inoculation was done thru two methods. First by direct feeding and second by feeding of food source (bananas).
  • Chris Barcinas (CRB Crew) is now working with Bob B. at the rearing facility due to summer employee worker (Gabriel Martinez) contract ended.
  • Dr. Reddy of the University of Guam to conduct testing and research on CRB using olfacotmeter made by Kautz and Sons.
  • Aubrey looking at other funding from Forest Service if it meets program needs.

Russell Campbell:

  • Another set of dissection ready to be mailed out to Trevor Jackson for analysis.
  • Waiting for results from Trevor Jackson on guts sent for analysis.

Paul Bassler:

  • Implementing a tool check out program.
  • Alternate burn location needed, piles of green waste getting bigger. Roland looking into getting approval from Chamorro land Trust to utilize a property by Two Lovers Point.
  • Recording of all man hours need to be recorded and inputted into database.
  • Flat bed truck sent back to shop for repair (under warranty)
  • Field acoustic detection arrived and Romano will be training with Bob B. in usage.
  • CRB work plan submitted to AAFB, Paul to follow up with.

Kin Naputi/Joseph Torres:

  • Joe- working on revisions on current language, fines, penalties, and quarantine laws.

Old Issues Pending

  • May 24, 2010– Continue to assign one person to work with acoustic detection. Aubrey has new battery pack on order and will notify Paul when equipment arrives. Bob Bourgeois will provide training.8/2/2010: Charge Amplifier is in operational, power toggle switch is defective and will have to be repaired or replaced.
  • October 2009 –Continue to reassess and reevaluate ramifications of revising CRB quarantine boundaries.
  • December 21, 2009–Continue to rectify recurring CRB procurement delays for CY 2010. Continue to collect documentation to substantiate problemsand pursue non-profit funding mechanism through the Soil Conservation District. Nakamura will follow up on CAPS funding requirementsfor third party nonprofits. Forest Service funding requirements also require follow up.
  • February 17, 2010– Aubrey continuing pit fall trap experimentsto determine if CRB are crawling into traps. One traptype is below soil line and the other is above soil line.
  • October 5, 2009 –Continue experiment on CRB flight behavior and attraction to bucket traps under a tent canopyas weather permits.
  • January 25, 2010–Continue to review and address enforcement of local quarantine laws with legal counsel. Current penalties, fines and regulatory language needs updating. Joseph Torres will have proposal by August 2010.Update: 8/16/2010- Joe reviewing current regulatory language, quarantine laws, and fines. Joe to hopefully have a rough draft in two week.
  • May 18, 2010–Continue acquisition of back-hoe or end-loader when additional funds are available. Staff will keep alert for acquisition opportunities.
  • June 18, 2010:Discussed use of other animals (pigs, chickens) for CRB sanitization and control in fenced areas.
  • June 18, 2010- Roland: Ongoing bioassay on all stages of CRB’s in 5 gallon buckets. Move indoors due to rainy season.July 19, 2010: bioassay being conducted by CRB Crew, Paul, Aubrey and Dallas at the Plant Inspection Facility.Update: 9/15/2010- Troy conducting bioassay.
  • May 25, 2010- Roland: continues to follow up with senators for local funding. Obtain copy of Gov Guam draft budget made available in July to identify proposals for CRB funding.
  • June 18, 2010- Roland continues to follow up with UOG Human Resource Office on holiday pay and benefits issues for CRB crew.Update: 8/9/2010- issue was brought to the attention of the dean and is pending legal office.
  • June 18, 2010- Roland continues to check on requirements for AmeriCorps Program assistance.
  • June 18, 2010- Roland: Continue checking with UOG Human Resources to determine if CRB employees are eligible for paid holidays. Nakamura will locate copy of a request letter sent to UOG by Dallas and will forward to Aubrey and Roland. Aubrey and Roland received unrelated guidelines on Gov Guam benefits for federally funded UOG employees.Update: 8/9/2010- issue was brought to the attention of the dean and is pending legal office.
  • June 8, 2010-Sanitation crews have collected all CRB life stages in unmanaged coconut tree crowns identifiable by heavily decaying matter surrounding the crown. Assess and consider: topical or systemic insecticides; physical removal of decayed crown material; flush out loose decayed crown material with water; and/or fell and destroy suspected trees. Reevaluate use of acoustic detection technology. Conduct survey of manicured coconut tree crowns on hotel properties. Continue to climb and cut suspected trees and collect data to determine effective sanitation strategy.
  • April 1, 2010- Roland: To obtain a purchase order for movement of equipment from Department of Agriculture to Plant Inspection facility.April 4, 2010: Jessica reported purchase order went to procurement for processing.Update: 8/9/2010- Due to confusion of purchase order, Roland to resubmit purchase order for the correct movement of equipment.
  • July 13, 2010- Roland: To work with Paul on selecting and training a CRB Crew as a second tree climber.
  • July 13, 2010-Roland data on felled trees prior to Paul taking over.
  • July 28, 2010-Looking into the possibility doing partnership with non-profit organization.
  • July 28, 2010- Possibility of rats feeding on CRB in Hagatna Swamp (no CRB found in crowns of tree) area versus no rats in SPPC (CRB found in crowns of tree) area. Aubrey suggested doing a simple experiment with snap rat traps on coconut trees.Update: 8-30-2010: Rat traps (five each location) setup on trunks of coconut trees at Fujita Tumon and Hagatna Swamp for monitoring rat activity. No rat catches to date.
  • August 17, 2010- Aubrey and Paul will meet with AAFB natural Resource Specialist in regards to trap monitoring concerns.
  • August 9, 2010- The possibility of hot water treatment of coconut tree crowns.
  • August 9, 2010- Aubrey reported that Dr. Golabi would like to use green waste materials for Biochar testing.
  • August 9, 2010- Paul to follow up with Jessica on GPS tracking device that was to be sent back due to unit not functioning properly.
  • August 16, 2010- Roland to seek approval from Government of Guam, Chamorro Land Trust to utilize property at Two Lovers Point area for burning treatment of infested CRB green waste materials.
  • August 16, 2010-Paul- Toyota Previa van to be transferred back to UOG.
  • August 30, 2010- Due to rainy/typhoon season Paul would like to have a protocol setup and in place.

Survey and Detection

Data available on website at:

username is trapper, password is tamuning

University of Guam CRB website:

Last : 09/13(data extracted) / This Week / Total
Traps Deployed / 0 / 1927
Traps in Use / 880
Traps Removed / 6 / 1047
Source
Last survey:
09/13data extracted
Last visit:
09/13(data extracted) / Number of Sites / Number of Larvae / Number of Pupae / Number of Adults / Number of Palms with Feeding Damage
Field Survey Total / 1927 / 14,746 / 828 / 1104 / 719
Field Survey Week / 21 / 111 / 12 / 16 / 3
Trap visit Total / 38,595 / n/a / n/a / 1972 / n/a
Trap visit Week / 322 / n/a / n/a / 34 / n/a

Regulatory

Nothing to report.

Control/Treatments

Last entry 09/13/2010 / This Week Count / This Week Quantity() / Total Count / Total Quantity()
Fumigations (cu ft) / 2 / 9,160 / 44 / 165,666
Ground Treatments (sq ft) / 0 / 0 / 24 / 105,588
Tree Treatments (each) / 0 / 621
Burning (cu yd) / 0 / 0 / 18 / 826
Tree Felled (each) / 2 / 63 / 128

Sanitation Work

Hagatna Springs. Tumon

Public Outreach/Media Coverage

  • Sept 16, 2010- Appreciation/award ceremony to acknowledge CRB Program, AQI, SITC, CAPS, Collaborating Identifiers, and the Plant inspection Facility.