Oregon State University
OP-9: Integrated Pest Management

The objective of OSU's IPM plan is to maintain pest populations below action threshold levels while ensuring minimal human exposure to health risks, inflicting minimal hazards on the environment, providing effective monitoring through inspections and standardized record keeping, and evaluating the effect of IPM practices. OSU's IPM plan aligns with EPA's plan in relationship to setting action thresholds, monitoring and identifying pests, and in prevention and control strategies. Environmental Health and Safety is responsible for ensuring that landscape services and all departments on campus follow proper IPM guidelines.

OSU's Landscape Manager, Joe Majeski, has stated, "IPM practices are used on all the grounds in accordance with state and federal laws." Below is the Oregon Department of Agriculture's IPM plan. Departments at OSU must develop IPM programs that are consistent with state laws. Oregon State's IMP guidelines are offered below to illustrate how the State's plan aligns with the EPA's four-tiered IPM plan. Definitions for ORS 634.650 to 634.665. As used in ORS 634.650 to 634.665: (1) “Integrated pest management” means a coordinated decision-making and action process that uses the most appropriate pest control methods and strategy in an environmentally and economically sound manner to meet agency pest management objectives. The elements of integrated pest management include: (a) Preventing pest problems; (b) Monitoring for the presence of pests and pest damage; (c) Establishing the density of the pest population, which may be set at zero, that can be tolerated or correlated with a damage level sufficient to warrant treatment of the problem based on health, public safety, economic or aesthetic thresholds; (d) Treating pest problems to reduce populations below those levels established by damage thresholds using strategies that may include biological, cultural, mechanical and chemical control methods and that shall consider human health, ecological impact, feasibility and cost effectiveness; and (e) Evaluating the effects and efficacy of pest treatments. (2) “Pest” means any vertebrate or invertebrate animal, pathogen, parasitic plant, weed or similar or allied organism which can cause disease or damage to crops, trees, shrubs, grasses or other plants, humans, animals or property.