Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in a PCT e-newsletter titled “Targeting Ants,” which was sponsored by Rockwell Labs Ltd.

When it comes to wood damage caused by an insect, the first thing that comes to mind for most consumers and pest management professionals is termites. After all, when you are the reason behind $5 billion in annual damage (according to the National Pest Management Association), you tend to garner a lot of attention.

There is another insect pest, however, that is no shrinking violet when it comes to damaging wood inside structures: the carpenter ant.

Carpenter ants target moist, rotting wood or other soft materials such a plastic insulation board in a structure, leaving their primary nests in logs, firewood, stumps and hollow trees in search of food. Oddly, they do not eat the wood they infest but prefer living and dead insects, meat, fats and sugary foods, including honeydew and nectar from plants.

Even though they do not eat the wood (they leave sawdust-like deposits outside entry holes) the hollowed-out tunnels carpenter ants create weaken its structural integrity. The damage caused is often hard to identify and can be costly for the homeowner to repair.

Carpenter ants are a deliberate pest that can take several years to establish a colony and cause damage to wood in a structure. But once established, a colony can grow quickly and number well into the thousands.

Steve Buono, chief operating officer of Buono Pest Control in Belmont, Mass., in suburban Boston, says the key to keeping carpenter ants in check is prevention.

“Carpenter ants will take advantage of any structural deficiencies in a home to gain access and establish a satellite nest,” says Buono. “Both the PMP and the customer share a responsibility for identifying and correcting these deficiencies.”

Buono says a thorough inspection of the structure to identify weak spots that could give carpenter ants an opening is a must for PMPs. Backed-up gutters and downspouts; missing flashing around doors and windows, chimneys and eaves; and damaged roofing can allow moisture to build up, damage wood and create an ideal opportunity for carpenter ants to move in and exhibit their destructive behavior.

“Correcting all the structural deficiencies is important or they will simply identify the next weak spot and infest wood in another area of the home,” says Buono. “Don’t restrict your inspection to the ground level since carpenter ants often access a structure by traveling on tree branches and entering through hard-to-see openings on the roof, gutters or upper floor windows.”

In addition to a comprehensive inspection of the structure and surrounding property, PMPs should take steps to educate residential clients. Sharing information on how to help prevent conditions that favor carpenter ants will contribute to the success of the overall management program. Pest management professionals can share the following tips with homeowners to help lessen the risk of a carpenter ant infestation:

• Carpenter ants need a constant water source to survive. Eliminate moisture or standing water on your property and consider using a dehumidifier in crawlspaces, basements and attics that are prone to dampness.
• Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from structures — carpenter ants (and other pests) use branches to gain access to a home.
• Fill any gaps or cracks on the outside of the home with silicone caulk.
• Store firewood and other wood building materials at least 20 feet from your home, and at least 5 inches off of the ground.
• Watch for the appearance of small openings or unexplained sawdust.

Buono says his company uses a broad array of treatment options including baits, dusts and traditional pesticide applications to treat for carpenter ants but that a proactive approach to deny access in the first place is the preferred method.

An energized group of PCOs and other industry stakeholders met with their congressional representatives on March 20 as part of the National Pest Management Association’s (NPMA) Legislative Day.

As in year’s past, attendees encouraged their representatives to consider the pest control industry’s position on regulatory and business-related issues that hamper them from providing services that safeguard people and property.

What was different about this year’s event was there were several factors in their favor, namely a more industry-friendly White House and Congress, and the pending Farm Bill, which needs to be renewed. It’s for these reasons the pest control industry may see the fruits of its advocacy labors in the future.

Prior to making their Legislative Day visits, Andrew Bray, vice president of public policy, NPMA, reviewed three issues the pest control industry is hoping to gain traction with in the current Congress.

REGULATORY CLARITY. Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the role between EPA and the states regarding pesticide regulation was clearly defined. EPA regulates and registers products, then enters into agreements with states as to how they regulate the use of pesticides. This procedure was challenged in a 1991 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that states’ statutes could not specifically exclude political subdivisions (localities). In the mid-1990s most states fixed their statutes to exclude subdivisions; however, five states did not do so, and those five have been battleground states for local pesticide bans (e.g., Maine and Maryland).

NPMA partnered with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) to include in the 2018 Farm Bill language “which would codify the exclusive role of State lead agencies, not political subdivisions, as pesticide co-regulators and to ensure that the expertise these agencies possess is both valued and integrated through their formal role in the development of pre-publication drafts of EPA regulatory proposals and regulations in final form.” On April 12, about one month after this year’s NPMA Legislative Day, the U.S House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture released the text of the proposed 2018 Farm Bill and it did include this language.

NPDES PERMITS. Despite the fact that pesticides applied in accordance with FIFRA have already undergone a thorough review during the EPA registration and reregistration processes, National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permits are required under the Clean Water Act any time chemical pesticides are used in, over or near Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The pest control industry has long been of the belief that these permits place an unnecessary and costly burden on them. There are two pieces of legislation in Congress to address this duplicative regulation. In the Senate, the Sensible Environmental Protection Act of 2017 (S. 340) has been assigned to the Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) awaiting further action. In March, the Senate EPW Committee held a hearing on the Agriculture Creates Real Employment (ACRE) Act which includes the language of S. 340 in section 6 of the ACRE Act. In the House, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017 (H. 953) has passed the Committee on Agriculture with bipartisan support and is now in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. NPMA and others believe the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as currently drafted, is broken. The Department of Interior, specifically the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively the Services), are tasked with implementing the ESA. This group can slow down the registration (or reregistration) review of products they determine may affect a listed endangered species by engaging in a slow-moving consultative process — involving scientific assessments with different standards and expertise — with EPA. NPMA believes now is the time to fix the broken pesticide consultation process between EPA and the Services to better protect people, their businesses and their homes.

Language to address these two Legislative Day initiatives — eliminating burdensome NPDES permits and reforming the Endangered Species Act — was also included in the proposed 2018 Farm Bill. “This is a tremendous development and a testament to our industry’s efforts on this issue the past year, but also an endorsement of this proposal being good policy that better enables PCO’s ability to protect public health,” NPMA CEO Dominique Stumpf said in an email to members. While these are positive industry developments, NPMA cautioned that the Farm Bill is mired in partisan disagreements over spending levels and worker requirements involving nutrition programs (SNAP) which will make passing a Farm Bill much more difficult. At press time, NPMA was anticipating a mark-up of the 2018 Farm Bill any day, where the text of this bill would be debated and amendments would be offered.

Other Legislative Day highlights included:

• Karl Rove, former Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, and Josh Earnest, former White House Press Secretary to President Barack Obama, faced off in a good-natured debate sponsored by FMC. Of course, President Donald Trump was the focal point of their discussions. Rove praised the President for cutting the corporate tax to make America more competitive in the interconnected global economy, and for holding NATO allies more financially accountable. However, he shared concerns about all of the turnover in Trump’s administration. As a White House insider who worked closely with former President Barack Obama, Earnest said he foresees one of the major future challenges for Trump is his reactive nature. “You have to be willing to take on the bad headlines in order to achieve longer term goals,” he said.
• Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) provided political insights with personal and professional stories in a session sponsored by Dow AgroSciences. Chaffetz said business owners are the ones who will solve the nation’s problems — not the “people on Capitol Hill.” Chaffetz related how he has overcome life’s obstacles, including struggling with his parents’ divorce when he was 12, and later losing both his mom and dad to cancer. “I think about those tough times and I realize that is what gave me a lot of strength and a lot of goodness and love,” he said. Chaffetz encouraged Legislative Day attendees to “speak from the heart” and share their personal experiences when they make their Congressional visits.
• Corey Lewandowski, President Trump’s former campaign manager, shared his observations about the Trump administration in a session sponsored by Control Solutions, Inc. Lewandowski said the Trump organization really operates like a small business, and it has been “refreshing to have a small business owner running our government.” Relating this to PCOs, Lewandowski reminded the attendees “this President made a promise on the campaign that for every new regulation he puts in, he would reduce two. But that’s not what he’s done. For every government regulation he’s put in place he’s actually reduced it by 22.”
• MGK held its Headquarters on the Hill luncheon. This final-day session was an opportunity for attendees to review NPMA issues and share valuable information obtained during Congressional office visits with fellow members and NPMA staff. The guest speaker was congressman Rodney Davis (R-Ill.).
• A performance by the Capitol Steps on Sunday night. The group put Washington’s hottest scandals to popular tunes. The performance and subsequent dessert reception were sponsored by Syngenta.

The author is Internet/managing editor of PCT and can be contacted at bharbison@gie.net.

Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in Mike Merchant’s blog, “Insects in the City,” which can be found at insectsinthecity.blogspot.com. The blog offers readers news and commentary about the urban pest management industry and is excerpted here with permission of the author.

Last year an article was published by Matthew Bertone and colleagues at North Carolina State University about arthropods found in homes. The only organism found in 100 percent of the homes and more than 90 percent of the basements surveyed was spiders. The only other organisms that came close were flies and ants and carpet beetles. By contrast, German cockroaches were found in only 6 percent of homes and fleas in 10 percent of homes.

Being at the right place at the right time and with the right service is advantageous in business. And when that service provides peace of mind and protection for consumers, all the better.

Jacob Cohn of Arrow Termite and Pest Control in Baton Rouge, La., found himself in just such a position two years ago in the aftermath of three days of constant rain — 20 inches in some areas — when more than 100,000 homes in and around the city were flooded.

In addition to working with customers to replace the loss of protective barriers for termites and other pests, Arrow was able to assist Baton Rouge home and business owners tackle another serious threat that came about as a result of the flooding — mold.

“Being a termite company we understood the relationship between moisture and pests,” says Cohn. “We also knew of the dangers mold presents and how high moisture levels can promote its development in a structure.”

Fortunately for Arrow, a third-generation company founded by Cohn’s grandfather in Monroe, La., in 1958, Cohn’s father had the foresight to secure a license to perform mold remediation work in Louisiana.

“We secured the license following Hurricane Katrina when we were faced with the prospect of losing customers and not having enough work for our employees,” Cohn said. “It puts us in a unique position to offer a valuable service to our customers.”

Rockford, Tenn.-based Nisus Corporation also realized there was an opportunity to deliver a valuable service to its pest management customers and much-needed assistance to home and business owners who were desperate to start putting their lives back together after the flooding.

The company conducted seminars in Baton Rouge for pest management professionals to learn about wood-destroying organisms, wood treatments, tips to reapplying termite treatments and how to properly apply its product, Bora-Care with Mold-Care.

“After flooding, mold and wood decay are the first problems to show up,” says Jim Gorman, vice president of marketing for Nisus. “Mold grows deep into wood and just using bleach won’t eliminate it.”

Arrow was already treating structures for termites and wood-destroying organisms with Bora-Care and the product’s Mold-Care feature allowed them to offer a dual protective service.

“It’s a little sad to be good at something after a disaster,” says Cohn. “But the service does eliminate the mold threat, reestablishes wood protection and provides homeowners a valuable service at a time they need it most.”

RIGHT SERVICE FOR YOU? The elimination of moisture to prevent pests is a proven strategy in any pest control program. But is expanding into mold remediation and protection a business model that can be done easily?

Gorman and Cohn agree that an extreme natural disaster doesn’t have to take place in order for PMPs to add mold services and that PMPs are in a position to add disinfecting, stain removal, mold remediation and wood decay treatment, and odor control services.

Cohn says the first thing pest professionals need to do is check with the regulatory agency in their state that oversees mold remediation and secure the proper licenses to perform the work.

They also need to contact their insurance carrier and make sure they are covered to add this service. They also need to invest time and resources in mold-remediation training for their employees.

“Are you guaranteeing for mold remediation or wood sanitization?” says Cohn. “What do your marketing materials say? All this has to be reviewed before you offer the service.”

Timing is also important in the sales and treatment process for mold services. Too often contractors — at the urging of anxious homeowners and to knock out as many jobs as possible in a short period of time — will reinstall drywall before moisture levels on walls and wood studs have dropped to an acceptable level, and the proper sanitation and remediation work completed.

Cohn says PMPs must have full access to a structure (i.e., before walls are sealed up) to make a complete and proper treatment of Bora-Care with Mold-Care. For maximum performance, the wood should be sanitized and slightly wet (since moist does help the product penetrate and kill existing mold and prevent future mold growth and wood decay).

Cohn says educating home-owners and contractors — even in stressful times — also is important. Arrow shares resources on a dedicated page on its website (https://www.arrowtermiteandpestcontrol.com/flood-information/) that details what consumers need to know about mold and what solutions are available. “There is an accountability that comes with offering this service and many variables come into play but if do your homework you shouldn’t be afraid of adding something new to your lineup,” he says.

TO DO LIST. What follows are things to think about before adding mold remediation services to your service offerings:

1. Only licensed PMPs can apply Bora-Care products to a structure. Check your state’s licensing requirements to determine the scope of work you can legally provide and what certifications and training are required.
2. Look to form working agreements with builders and contractors to build your network of contacts.
3. Check with your insurance carrier to make sure you are covered to perform mold remediation treatments.
4. Know the difference between mold remediation and wood treatments: remediation includes very specific services, including testing ambient air both before and after treatment.
5. Review your marketing materials and customer agreements to make sure they accurately spell out what services you are guaranteeing.
6. Make sure technicians performing the work have the proper training and equipment (i.e., application techniques, how to properly use moisture meters, identifying conducive conditions for mold, etc.).