Integrated Pest Management

Not a Fad or a Fancy Term But a Valid Operational Strategy
By Wendy Jessup

 

Over the past decade, museums have been embracing Integrated Pest Management is an operational strategy for managing their pest problems.  However, 15 years ago, when pesticides were regularly used on and around collections, IPM was considered a radical idea because many curators and collections managers saw pesticides as necessary evils for protecting their collections against pests.  While many of these professionals recognized that pesticides might have negative effects, insects, rodents, fungi, and other pests were considered a greater problem.

Pests and pesticides have always been of concern in museum collections.  Recent publications by conservators cite historical references that document these concerns.

Publications such as Pest Control in Museums: A Status Report (1980) (Association of Systematics Collections 1981) and its revision A Guide to Museum Pest Control (Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation and the Association of Systematics Collections 1988) were some of the first to discuss issues of pests, pesticide treatment options, legal and regulatory concerns, health and safety concerns, and the effects of pesticides on collections materials in an integrated and comprehensive manner.  Although large institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Support Center and the chief curator's office of the National Park Service were developing IPM policies and implementing IPM programs by 1986, it was not until the  publication of A Guide to Museum Pest Control and its final chapter ("Integrated Pest Management: A Program for Museum Environments" by G. D. Alpert and L. M. Alpert) that the concept of IPM was clearly articulated and made available to the greater museum community.  Since then, museums and libraries have applied for and received grants to conduct pest management  assessments and to develop IPM policies and programs. Assessment of pest management and IPM programs has been incorporated into most general conservation surveys. 

Integrated Pest Management is an ecosystems approach to the control of pests.  Originally developed for agricultural and urban pest management, IPM for museums employs a variety of techniques to prevent and solve pest problems in an efficient and environmentally sound manner without compromising the safety of collections, museum staff, or visitors.  Museum IPM programs have a two-part goal: to protect the museum and its collections  against pests and to reduce the amount of pesticides that are used in the museum. Pesticides may damage collections, affect research results, and cause health problems for the museum's staff and visitors.

The components of an IPM program for museums and libraries include monitoring, identification, inspection, habitat modification, good housekeeping, treatment action, education, and evaluation.  Once established, these components become cyclical activities to determine the type and extent of biological activity, to prevent pest access and survival, to establish damage and action thresholds, to develop treatment actions to modify conditions that permit pest access and survival, and to develop actions to take when an infestation is discovered.

Monitoring is a significant component of any IPM program. It provides baseline information about the conditions in the museum and identifies the pest species in and around the collections.  Monitoring helps to assess the efficacy of any treatment actions taken.  Monitoring choices may differ depending upon the type of pest and the types of collections. Techniques can include visual inspections of harborage areas in the building and of collections as well as the use of a variety of specialized traps.  All monitoring data must be documented, and the data must be regularly evaluated to determine the presence and extent of any pest problem.  This information can then be used to develop an appropriate treatment strategy and assess its efficacy.

Not all organisms found in the museum environment are pests to the collection.  However, their presence can indicate that the conditions are conducive to pest access and/or survival.  For instance, spiders cause no harm to museum collections, but a healthy population of spiders indicates that other insects are present in the building.

Regular inspections of the building are extremely important.  Inspections of the complete interior and exterior will identify construction and maintenance problems that permit pest entry and survival.  Exterior building and landscaping components can provide harborage for insects and vertebrates that can then enter the building.  Improper grading and vegetation around the building can increase the amount of moisture in a building, thus facilitating the propagation of pests and mold.  Similarly, dust and trash inside of a building provide nutrients and harborage for pests as well as an improved environment for mold.  

Regular inspection of the collections is equally important.  All pest-vulnerable materials need to be inspected on a regular schedule, but certain types of collections may require more vigilant inspection.  For example, waterfowl, marine mammal specimens, and anthropological materials made from greasy proteinaceous materials are especially prone to infestation and require more frequent inspection.  Similarly, certain plant specimens such as bamboo and Brassicaceae are also very prone to infestation.  Regular inspection by the staff can determine which materials in each collection are those most prone to infestation by specific pests.

Treatment action includes any activity that is taken to reduce the potential for pest access and survival in the building.  The selection of a treatment action depends upon the identification and extent of the problem and an understanding of the efficacy of the action to be taken.  These actions can include physical changes to the building such as the installation or replacement of weatherstripping around exterior doors or an operational change such as an adjustment of custodial schedules so that debris and trash are removed from the building at the end of each day.  A building maintenance plan and housekeeping program will  ensure that all areas of the building, including offices, collection storage areas, mechanical rooms, electrical closets, food service areas, basements, and janitor closets, are kept scrupulously clean and free of debris, and that all areas prone to pest harborage are closed off.

Many of the early efforts of IPM concentrated on monitoring for pest identification and population densities as well as the development of techniques to prevent pests from gaining access to museum and library buildings. Eradication of infestations remained a vexing issue, however.  Changes in the regulations for the use of fumigants such as ethylene oxide and emerging information about its deleterious effects on a variety of museum materials coincided with the growing popularity of IPM and led to a search for alternative methods of pest eradication.  Over the past two decades, conservators and conservation scientists have investigated the use of other pesticides including phosphine and sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane) as well as alternatives such as low temperature and high temperature, microwaves, gamma radiation, reduced oxygen environments such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon, and the use of oxygen scavengers such as Ageless.  These new developments have come from a systematic analysis of the efficacy of treatments against museum pests as well as their limitations, including effects on collection materials and human beings.  Museum staff now have an array of choices that are potentially less harmful to collections, staff, and visitors than were the fumigants used in the past.

Although IPM policies can only be implemented through the development of physical and operational changes, staff and volunteers need to know how they can help minimize pest problems in the museum environment.  Education and communication are critical to the success of an IPM program.

Clearly, a primary benefit of IPM is the reduction of pesticides in the workplace.  Thus, the museum's administration and governing authority are at reduced risk for litigation concerning occupation and visitor safety.  Costs associated with medical monitoring as well as employee illness are reduced.  IPM benefits the museum's visitors because they will be coming into a public institution that is using fewer toxic materials and, because of regular sanitation, is very clean.

It benefits emergency personnel who may need to respond to fires and other types of emergencies by reducing the total amount of toxins in the institution.  IPM benefits the collections because fewer chemicals will be used that may cause damage or alter their composition.  Additionally, IPM requires that the stewards of the collections regularly inspect and monitor their condition.  Thus the collections receive greater attention. 

Finally, IPM benefits the environment because fewer nontarget organisms are at risk of pesticide exposure.  As stewards of cultural and natural resources, museums are increasingly recognizing their responsibility for the global environment, and a reduction in pesticide use is a sound environmental preservation action. 

As we have become more aware of the benefits of IPM and the efficacy of IPM programs, more museums are embracing the methodology. 

An IPM Checklist for Planning & Implementing Pest Collections There are really only four questions to answer or issues to consider:

I. Is Pest Control Necessary? 

•  A pest is an unwanted organism-animal, plant, bacteria, fungus, virus, etc. 
• What pest problem do you have? bats, mice, birds, rats, mold (fungus), insects
• What collections in your museum are affected? basketry, ceramics, frescoes, glass, metals, paper, paintings, stone, structure (building itself), textile (wool/camelid, cotton), wood (softwood, hardwood)
• Some pest problems (like fleas) may bother the staff or collection's owner, but pose no threat to artworks or artifacts. Sometimes such insects as ladybugs or such animals as geckos are inconsequential, or even beneficial, to the home or museum environment.
• Many types of collections are not attacked by pests, but their housings may be susceptible to infestation.  Certain collections in certain climates are usually safe; certain collections in certain climates are at risk; some collections are attacked most often.

 

II. Will Pest Control Be Effective?

•  Is there a chemical or nonchemical treatment that you are currently using? 
• Does the pest problem persist?
• Does the pest problem return? the next week, month, season,  year
• Where is the pest problem? 
• Where does the pest come from? 
• What does the pest like to eat? 
• What is the life cycle of the pest? 
• What does it need to survive? food needs, harborage needs, preferred light levels, preferred temperature levels, preferred humidity, preferred living arrangements (space).
• For example, some cockroaches in the United States prefer a space 3/16 inch wide; they like cracks and crevices and the dark; they will eat anything organic; they like starchy food; and corrugated boxes are attractive to them.
• Integrated pest management uses chemical and nonchemical methods to reduce and eliminate pest problems in the following steps:
  

1. Inspection
   Building structure. Does the structure invite pests into the museum via the roof, eaves and ledges, doors, windows, air vents, wall crevices, drains (inside and outside), floor, attics, basements?
   
   Cleaning. Do maintenance schedules or housekeeping policies-about food, food supplies, equipment, museum supplies, trash removal, desks and table space cleaning, flowers, indoor and outdoor plants, closets, closed spaces, floor cleaning-make the collection a better place for the pests to live? 
   
   
2. Diagnosis and Reporting
   Catch examples of your pest (kill but do not squish) using sticky (unbaited) traps; sticky (baited) traps; pheromone traps; or black light traps (not good for your eyes). Collect examples of pest damage and leavings. Identify the pest; go to an entomologist (also see References). Learn its preferred diet, life cycle, and habitat. Record the location and date the pests were found to determine what areas of the collection are infested.Note: Some insects will not be attracted to baits or traps. The "carpet beetles" that attack wool in the United States and Europe like only the dead insects already in the old traps. Other insects will die on your desk or shelf and be easy to find, like the Stegobium paniceum L (drugstore/spice beetle) and the Lasioderma Serricorne F (the cigarette beetle). Cockroaches will hide and be caught in sticky traps if the traps are placed in dark corners or damp places and if cockroaches are present. Do not carry out pest control on a pest that does not exist!
   
   
3. Planning Pest Management Strategy
   Match the pest control to the pest and match the treatment to the particular pest: to where it lives and what it eats, to the museum, to the people who work in the museum, and to the object.
   
   Mechanical and physical control. Decide how to change your  museum structure-vents, drains, screens, doors, plants, or windows. For example, to keep birds away, remove vines and bushes from exterior walls; to keep cockroaches away, remove leaves and grass clippings.
   
   Cultural control. Decide how to change people's work (or eating) habits in the galleries, offices, library, and storage rooms. For example, do not leave food or wrappers in wastebaskets overnight; do not leave dirty dishes in the sink.
   
   Sanitation. Decide how to make living in the museum more difficult for the pest. For example, make sure all windows have screens; to stop cockroaches from coming up around pipes, caulk all openings.
   
   Biological control. Decide if another organism will solve the problem. For example, a cat in the garden might help catch mice.
   
   Chemical control. Try local treatment, specific to the habits of the insect. For example, spray cracks and crevices for cockroaches; then set baited traps in dark corners.
   
   
4. Implementing the Strategy
   Inform everyone in the museum why changes need to be made and how they can help (i.e., by changing their habits).
   
   Keep a record of what you have done-the date it was done and where it was done.
   
   Be certain to investigate any chemical you plan to use: that it is legal and the least invasive or least toxic method available. For example, cigarette companies find the pheromone traps provide significant control of the cigarette beetles in their factories.
   
   Be certain that methods are properly applied. For example, a pheromone trap attracts insects, so place it at a slight distance rather than in the middle of susceptible collections; thus bugs will be attracted away rather than toward the collection.
   
   Know what dosage (concentration) to use and in what form (liquid, powder, oil-in-water emulsion, etc.).
   
   Know how long a treatment lasts at the temperature and relative humidity of your climate, in the sunlight, or in the dark.
   
   Be certain that it will not affect trees, plants, etc.  Know how safe it is to humans (see below).
   
   
5. Evaluate the Results
   Again, inspect.  Monitor with sticky traps, baits, pheromone traps, or black light traps; document numbers, location, and date.  Check on a regular basis (every week or every month). Survey a sample of the susceptible collection.  For example, look in a different cabinet every month to inspect a different group of textiles every time.

 

III. How Toxic to Staff (and to Visitors) Will the Pesticide Be? Toxic means poisonous.

• Dermal toxicity refers to poison absorbed through the skin. For example, dry materials (dusts, wettable powders, granules) can be absorbed into your skin, especially on a hot, humid day.
• Oral toxicity refers to poison ingested. For example, it can occur while eating or smoking or from putting your hands or your food on sprayed surfaces.
• Inhalation refers to poisons breathed through your nose. For example, breathing the vapor of the pesticide (not the carrier, but the pesticide itself can cause harm.)
• Acute effects are measured as LD50 meaning the lethal dosage for 50 percent of the animals tested.  Sometimes they are measured as LC50 meaning the lethal dosage in the air for 50 percent of the animals tested.  The lower the LD50 or the LC50, the more poisonous the pesticide. 
• Chronic Effects are how poisonous a pesticide is to an animal or human after small, repeated doses over a long period of time. (LD50 and LC50 are not a measure of chronic toxicity.) 
• A fumigant is a poisonous gas that kills when absorbed or inhaled.  Most are highly toxic but have no residual effects.
• A pesticide is a chemical or other agent that will destroy a pest or protect something from a pest. 1. A residual pesticide is a pesticide that can destroy pests or keep them from causing damage for long periods of time after it is applied (days, weeks, or months). 2. A short-term pesticide is one that breaks down almost immediately after application into nontoxic by-products.
• Most chlorinated hydrocarbons (Aldrin, Dieldrin, DDT, Lindone, Chlordane) are banned in the United States and Europe. Some of these chemicals have been found in collections in museums in Europe.  They are residual pesticides that have chronic effects on people and animals.  Until recently, they have been widely available in Europe (in grocery stores) and in the United States.  As pesticides they worked very well, but they proved to have long-lasting toxic effects.

 

Caution: Carbamates (Sevin, Furadan, Lannate) and organophosphates can attack a chemical in your body called cholinesterase; your nervous system will be affected.  These chemicals should not be sprayed on surfaces where people might work (desks or tables in storage rooms, etc.).

IV.  Will Pest Control Harm the Art Object?

•  It is not difficult to find out about commercial or industrial materials such as cereal grains, fruits, cinder blocks, woods, spices, and metals.  Whether a museum object will be harmed is more difficult to determine.  In discussing and describing infested objects with a professional pest control operator (PCO) or entomologist, use material class terms (leather, wool, softwood) and be careful to mention all composite materials (protein glue, brass fittings, silver threads).
• What is best for one museum's collection will not necessarily be the best for another unless the pest, climate, conditions, and collections are exactly the same.

 

 

A bibliography on integrated pest management can be obtained from Wendy Jessup. 

Wendy Claire Jessup, Wendy Jessup and Associates, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia. Ms. Jessup is a conservator in private practice specializing in preventive conservation. Previously employed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Smithsonian Institution, she currently provides consulting and training services to museums, historical societies, corporations and individuals in preventive conservation and collections care.  Since 1983, one area of particular interest has been the development of integrated pest management (IPM) programs. 

References

Farm chemicals handbook. 1997. Willoughby, Ohio: Meister Publications. 

Insect control guide. 1997. Willoughby, Ohio: Meister Publications.

Mallis, Arnold.  1990. Handbook of pest control, 7th ed. Cleveland, Ohio: Franzak and Foster. 

Story, Keith. 1985. Approaches to pest management in museums. Washington, D.C.: Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution.

Mary Ballard, Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution

 

Art Hazard News, Volume 20, No. 3, 1997

This article was originally printed for Art Hazard News, © copyright Center for Safety in the Arts 1997. It appears on CAR courtesy of the Health in the Arts Program, University of Illinois at Chicago, who have curated a collection of these articles from their archive which are still relevant to artists today.