December 2013 IDENTIFIER NOTES OF INTEREST NEWSLETTER Page 1 The IDF plan addresses potential issues What is ID Facilitation? of delay in the PPQ pest identification system by: DA’s office charged NIS and Field Op- Message from Joe Cavey, erations (FO) managers with addressing 1. Investigating general and NIS Assistant Director the timeliness issues of pest identifica- specific (to location) causes of delay to tion processing. The resulting IDF plan pest interception processing. (Note: n December 6, 2013, a message was approved and supported with the pest interception processing is defined as Ofrom the PPQ Deputy Adminis- addition of 30 new positions. In this the period from detection of the pest to trator announced a plan to hire 30 pest article, I want to briefly introduce you the time the action decision is delivered identification positions beginning in to aspects of IDF other than staffing. to the broker, to include CBP and PPQ January 2014. The new positions will actions.) continued on page 8 include PPQ identifiers, national taxo- nomic specialists and positions under a Good Progress Made by the PPQ Molecular new GS-11 Plant Health Safeguarding Diagnostics Task Force by Joel Floyd, NIS Domestic Specialist/Pest Identification position Diagnostics Coordinator description. Discussions are under way hanks to the with NAAE, affected SPHD’s and CBP Thard work of on what is the most significant employ- the PPQ Molecular ment incident affecting the pest identifi- Diagnostics Task cation function in 40 or more years. As Force (MDTF), we Mr. El-Lissey stated in his message, we are closer to a goal of will announce the openings and loca- deploying molecular tions in January. We will also share our diagnostics for pest hiring plans, as all positions will not be identification at announced and opened at once. ports of entry. In the coming year, there This employment initiative is part of are three pilot projects planned to take CONTENTS a larger effort named Identification place at Plant Inspections Stations (PIS) page Facilitation (IDF). The IDF project around the country. More on that later, What is ID Facilitation? . 1 was developed to respond to increased but first let’s catch everyone up on this Molecular Diagnostics . 1 demands on PPQ’s pest identification significant effort. Mary Joyce Burns. 2 system, especially regarding timeliness While discussions began in early 2011, NIS Urgent Policy Guide . 3 of processing cargo interceptions for Mary Palm and Joe Cavey began in New Nikon Camera . 4 identification. These demands result 2012 gathering personnel from various Fruit Fly DNA . 6 from increases over the past decade in functions and levels in PPQ including Insect ID Videos . 9 cargo volume, numbers of pest intercep- identifiers, PIS supervisors, CPHST image ID. 10 tions, numbers of pest taxa intercepted, molecular biologists, Field Opera- Woodborer Rearing . 12 hours of cargo inspection operation and tions managers, taxonomic specialists, industry expectations. With support Historic Photos . 14 of the APHIS Administrator, the PPQ continued on page 7 Page 22 IDENTIFIER IDENTIFIER NOTES NOTES OF INTEREST OF INTEREST NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER December December 2013 2013 Many Happy Returns: A Big Thanks to Mary Joyce Burns, NIS’ Program Assistant dentifiers in entomology may have Inoticed more regular and increased numbers of specimens being returned from the ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL) in the last year or so. This is thanks to the dedication and diligence of Mary Joyce Burns, our NIS Program Assistant who takes her job very seriously, and enjoys it too. After the SEL specialists do their iden- tifications / confirmations, the intercep- tions are then routed through the SEL Communications & Taxonomic Services Unit in Beltsville, MD where they are checked off and boxed up to be sent to tions have become more than a Latin Mary Joyce also has other duties but her Mary Joyce at NIS in Riverdale, MD. binomial and specimen in a vial or on first priority is always getting intercep- She checks the Pest ID data on each in- a pin, which makes her job much more tions processed with accuracy and speed terception to make sure it is correct, and satisfying. She has actually become of delivery back to identifiers. There then divides them up according to work quite an insect enthusiast taking a are some older stashes of interceptions location to be returned for identifier’s little extra time to look at the more she has discovered in NIS storage areas collections. This is no small task con- impressive insects that cross her desk. and has been trying to get those finally sidering the mountains of interceptions She sometimes shows NIS staff these back out to the field as well. Summer submitted and processed from all ports interesting specimens and asks questions help comes from student interns, but it by SEL weekly. or reads up about the various kinds of is only for a couple months, so the vast insect pests. She even displays photos of majority of the responsibility falls on Mary Joyce does not see the job is not insects in her cubicle, and has begun to her. We at NIS are very appreciative of just simple mindless data checking take an interest in snails and slugs. Will her hard work, attention to detail, and and paper processing. To her, intercep- nematodes be next? enthusiasm for the job she obviously takes great pleasure in. JF National Identification Services Staff Roles/Responsibilities APHIS Headquarters Riverdale, MD Scott Neitch Tadd Dobbs Administrative and quarantine ac- Identification authority (entomology), Joe Cavey, Assistant Director tion policies, diagnostic reviews entomology identifier specialties Administrative and quarantine ac- tion policies Pete Touhey Mike Petrillo Pest ID technical support, ARM CBP Liaison, cargo release authority Mary Palm, Supervisor technical liaison Administrative, policy, supervision, Joel Floyd special initiatives Steve Bullington Domestic Diagnostics Coordinator, Trend/pathway analysis Joyce Cousins NIS website, NIS INOI editor Urgent process coordinator, pest Indira Singh categorizations, Pest ID technical Botany policy issues, HQ identifier Mary Joyce Burns support orientation and advancement plan, Program Assistant, AQAS quality pest interception training control & interception processing December 20132013 IDENTIFIER IDENTIFIER NOTES NOTES OF INTEREST OF INTEREST NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER Page 3 Page 3 NIS Urgent Policy Guide Launch he process by which NIS makes de- The final product of these efforts was Tcisions after urgent pests are identi- sent out to you as a draft for comment fied by national specialists may seem to by Joe Cavey in late October, 2013. It be somewhat of a mystery to identifiers. will be linked from the NIS Identifier For years, NIS staff assigned to urgents Collaboration Intranet site, accessible have used a loose-leaf binder full of only to PPQ. various instructions and policies to assist in making action determinations for While this guide is of most use, of urgents. Historic policies were handed course to NIS in Riverdale, but it down by ancestral staffers like sacred will also come in handy to identi- texts, some of which were lost or needed fiers in making decisions on pests the likes of a Rosetta stone to decipher. for which they have identification The basis for some historical decision authority and during those times memos was not always there or well when NIS is shut down due to articulated. New policies were added to snow storms or other unpredict- address a particular problem that arose, able eventualities. and the binder contents became more complicated to interpret every year. A few caveats to using the guide: 1) start with Chapter 2 for all cargo/conveyance may supersede subsequent charts. It is In an effort to standardize the urgent interceptions; 2) if you have a non- suggested then, that you not go straight process and make it more transpar- reportable organism, you should not be to the flow chart that has the taxa you ent, Bud Petit de Mange, formerly the running it through the flow charts, (but are interested in, at least until you are director of the PPQ Manuals Unit, now there are exceptions, for example, ants more familiar with the overall structure retired, worked with Joyce Cousins and intercepted in Hawaii); 3) the Mexican of the guide. others to document our urgent process Action Policy no longer has species lists, in a flowchart format, similar to other so in most cases, be guided by the quar- Another nice advantage of the guide is PPQ manuals. We had many meetings antine status in Pest ID (and remarks) that the policy documents are linked organized by Joyce to go over the flow when you have a species level identifica- from many of the flow charts, for refer- and try to capture the various aspects tion. You will see there are no longer ence. Just click on the highlighted text, correctly. When NIS staffer, Mike species list for mites, insects, mollusks, and the policy should pop up. Petrillo returned to Riverdale, he started pathogens, or nematodes. (Seeds are working on revising the entire Mexican still listed, i.e., FNWs). The one“list” Take some time to familiarize yourself Action Policy and then facilitated many is for actionable insect genera from with the Urgent Policy Guide since, as more meetings on the overall organiza- Mexico with no known US species; and identifiers, this is a key part of making tion and logic of the way the urgent 4) please realize there is a hierarchy of decisions, in a consistent way, about the manual would