Biologically based Integrated Pest Management combines ecologically sound strategies with other tools to provide better control and more flexibility than can be achieved using any single tool alone. It is by far the best approach. But in the end, the most important question is does it work. Absolutely! Just take a look at these before and after pictures taken from different types of ecosystems. These are good examples of the kind of results you can achieve.
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Forget Me Not Lake, MN
Before 1994	After 1997
Decades of control efforts with herbicides proved fruitless on this island, but Aphthona lacertosa took out a solid stand of spurge in just three years. Note how quickly grasses returned. The island, which features a grassland prairie ecosystem with relatively high moisture, remains relatively spurge-free to date. Of interest: This site was one of the first A. lacertosa sites in the U.S. Photo by R.D. Richard, USDA-APHIS PPQ

Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, SD
Before 1999	After 2000
Mixtures of Aphthona czwalinae/lacertosa were released here in 1994-96; their impact on heavy leafy spurge infestations between 1998-2000 were dramatic. Nearly 8 million flea beetles were collected at the site in 1999 and 2000. Refuge officials say the dramatic results have attracted a great deal of interest from local farmers and ranchers, who are now working to implement biocontrol programs on their own land. Photo by Connie Mueller, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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