Scientists from the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento, will speak at the meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6 in the CDFA Plant Diagnostic Lab, 3288 Meadowview Road, Sacramento.
The group, comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons, will meet from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Newly elected president Robert Dowell, a CDFA staff environmental scientist, said the date is a change from the regular schedule; the group usually meets in February on the first Thursday.
The event begins at 9:15 a.m. with registration and coffee.
The agenda:
9:30 a.m.: “Gall Insects in California” – Kathy Schick, a specialist/curator at the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley
10:15 a.m.: “Update on Biological Control of Klamath Weed in California” – Mike Pitcairn, CDFA senior environmental research scientist.
11 a.m.: “Federal and California Regulations for Importing Living Plant Pests” – Stephen Brown, Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services CDFA, and Anthony Jackson, USDA APHIS, Plant Protection and Quarantine.
12 noon: Lunch – The menu will be chicken, whole beans, rice, tortillas, chips, salsa and guacamole from Pollo Loco - @15.00.
1:15 p.m. “Fruit Fly Quarantines: Regulations and Quarantine Development” – Casey Estep, CDFA senior environmental scientist.
2 p.m.: “Something New for Invasive Species Reporting” – Susan Sawyer, CDFA staff environmental scientist.
Reservations for the luncheon can be made with treasurer Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist, UC Davis Department of Entomology, at ecmussen@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0472. He requests reservations by Jan. 31.
The society meets three times a year: the first Thursday of February at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento; the first Thursday of May in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis; and the first Thursday of November in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District conference room, Concord.
Membership is open to the public; dues are $10 year. Those interested in joining may contact Mussen. They'd love to have new members!
Dowell, the newly elected president, worked as a research scientist at the University of Florida's Agricultural Research and Education Center, Davie, Fla. from 1977 to 1980 before joining the CDFA in December 1980.
Dowell, who grew up in Stockton, obtained his bachelor's degree in biology from UC Irvine; his master’s degree in insect ecology from California State University, Hayward (now CSU East Bay) and his doctorate in entomology from The Ohio State University. He is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. His professional experience also includes editor of the Pac-Pacific Entomologist.
His current research: attraction of male fruit fly lures for native California insects and evolution of host plant range in swallowtail butterflies: the Western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus),the pale tiger swallowtail (P. eurymedon) and the two-tailed swallowtail (P. multicaudata).
Dowell succeeds Robert “Bob” Case of Concord, retired deputy agricultural commissioner from the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture, as the Nor Cal Entomology Society president. UC Davis mosquito researcher Debbie Dritz is a recent past president of the society.
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