Besides conducting investigations and research within the natural sciences, we are also a practicing pest management and environmental consulting firm. In all our endeavors, we seek to serve our clients and the general public by exercising cautious and insightful stewardship over the environment we live and work in. An important element of that service is to mitigate the harmful impact of exotic chemistry—that is, chemicals that are not naturally found in quantity, if at all, in ordinary environments—on beneficial organisms.
We share the results of our studies and testing with chemical manufacturers and formulators, and with the public at large. In addition, we apply our knowledge directly, in accord with applicable provisions of federal and state EPA Rules and Regulations, as part of our unending quest to develop and perform advanced forms of generalized pest management.
Toward that end, we study, blend, test and evaluate GRAS food additives and substances, minimum-risk natural and organic pesticides and repellents, and essential plant oils and cohort chemicals with cleansing and solvent faculties. We particularly like the last of these, as they can be used to make subtle, but crucial changes to microcosmic ecosystems. They also provide the backbone of our exclusive IRIM-P.A.™ system, which is described more fully below.
Over the years, our work produced, first, what we refer to as a system of Integrated Reduced Impact Methods, or IRIM™, and a specialized i3™ program—within that system—to control subterranean termites. Our attention is on cleanup, prevention, and remediation in sensitive environments, though today we think of all environments as sensitive. And we don’t practice pest management so much as what we now refer to as Pest Avoidance. Within the larger framework of our IRIM™ Program, we call it IRIM-P.A.™, denoting a methodology that focuses on the use of everything but pesticides to produce an environment that does not nurture or attract pests, and thus, one that pests avoid.
The sciences of entomology, arachnology, herpetology, and nematology blend together–in our world–to give us a vision of the future that makes the best sense when we try to give Nature’s needs as much attention as possible. A rational view of the interactions of all the various life systems that impinge on a particular environment enables a stewardship that tweaks a little here, then a little there, to keep things balanced. The tweaking may involve planting the right flowers near shrubs and trees prone to caterpillar attacks, to feed emerging adult tachinid flies and speed up their attacks on phytophagous caterpillars feeding nearby. Then both populations (tachinid flies and caterpillars) remain low, so neither makes pests of themselves. That’s an example of what we mean by Pest Avoidance.
Respectful, animal-friendly research on mammals, ants, termites, snakes, and spiders constantly improves our knowledge about these organisms, their taxonomy, biology, habitats, and behavior. In the process–besides learning more about the natural world around us–we discover better methods and products to protect beneficial organisms, while excluding, eliminating, and cleaning up after genuine pests that have gotten into places where, for one reason or another, they are not welcome. Our object is to avoid, wherever possible, the use of cleansing, repellent, and extermination chemicals that are not classified as minimum-risk, least-toxic, non-toxic, or GRAS for the purpose intended. Along the way we share what we learn about these organisms, and effective products and techniques for their management and remediation, with the public at large.
Contracting with scientific laboratories, chemical and pesticide manufacturers and formulators is an important part of our work. We study and experiment with minimum-risk biological pesticides such as nematodes and beneficial wasps, GRAS cleanser and solvent constituents, reduced-risk pesticides such as disodium octaborate tetrahydrate, and minimum-risk essential plant oils. These studies teach us ways to increase the use of GRAS cleansers and solvents in our own IRIM-P.A.™ program, and enable us to assist manufacturers and formulators, as well as federal and state regulatory agencies, in a common quest to make more and better products in these categories available to all who wish to use them.
Not only do we carry out these programs, we also teach our clients how to carry out do-it-yourself pest avoidance programs on their own when and where such methods are appropriate and effective, though today we are prone to think that “when” is all the time, and “where” is everywhere. We also seek out and cooperate with other firms to find ways to improve each other’s service programs.