The Long Island Tick Crisis: An Educational Forum for Educators, Parents, the Agricultural Tourism Business, Agricultural Producers, and the General Public

Abstract

Ticks continue to be a top pest priority for many people on Long Island because of their serious impacts on personal health, recreation and outdoor work environment, plus the concerns over heavy pesticide use and impacts on water quality. Agritourism continues to expand at a phenomenal rate and with that expansion of pick your own operations, corn mazes etc., there exists an increased potential for contact between ticks and agritourists, especially children. These agritourists may not have previous experience with ticks and personal protection if they are coming from the city or from urbanized parts of Nassau or are from off Long Island. Another area of great concern is the potential for the explosive spread of the recently discovered invasive long horned tick. These forums are geared to address all of these concerns plus to emphasize personal protection, comprehension of various tick ecologies and the impact that makes on keeping property safer, and how agricultural businesses can improve and assist in education of clientele and personal safety. They are also geared to answer all questions attendees might present. To this end, 15 education forums were scheduled. Resources presented included tick identification cards, magnifiers, tweezers, tick checklists for the property, Tickwise flyers with tick information, and factsheets on alpha-gal syndrome and Powassan Virus. Preserved tick specimens were available at forums for perusal.