Bed Bug Training for Landlords

I am the Urban Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor for the San Francisco Bay Area, serving Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. As a member of the University of California’s Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM), I serve as a conduit for IPM-related information and resources. The primary emphasis of this position is pest management of arthropods in urban areas. A major focus of my programs is to develop new IPM strategies, or to adapt and implement IPM strategies already available, in cooperation with UC Farm Advisors, Master Gardeners, pest control advisers, pest management professionals, pest control operators, public agencies, schools, parks, public housing, and regulatory agencies involved with both structural / industrial IPM and landscape IPM. The overarching goals include education about IPM principles, development of IPM programs for clientele, reduction in pesticide applications, and mitigation of surface water contamination due to urban pesticide applications. My connections to UC IPM ensure that I can indirectly help with pest management issues within any urban system by relaying relevant UC IPM information and by establishing relationships between industry and other University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Advisors and Specialists. Personal specialties include IPM protocols, decision support, reduced-risk pesticides, sampling programs, experimental design, mathematical modeling, and insectary management.

Heidi Palutke holds principal responsibility for CAA’s compliance and education programs, including the development of statewide and local compliance forms and materials. She conducts research and analysis of state and local legislation to support CAA’s public affairs team. She also represents CAA before various regulatory agencies and departments and manages CAA’s various litigation projects. Palutke holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from Michigan State University, and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco. She is a member of the California State Bar and has been admitted to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Luis Agurto Jr. is a second-generation pest control operator and is the President and CEO of Pestec. Pestec is an Integrated Pest Management firm that works with Bay Area municipalities, institutions, and businesses on long-term and environmentally responsible pest management programs. Luis is also the structural IPM trainer for the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Healthy Schools IPM workshops and provides hands-on training to school personnel. Luis holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from the University of San Francisco and is an Accredited Certified Entomologist (ACE) by the Entomological Society of America.