The West Coast Rodent Academy, an urban rodent control training workshop held annually since 2016, was held virtually in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was on Nov. 12-13 and it was attended by 278 people.
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors BASF, Bell, Liphatech and VM products, the academy provided scholarships, reaching out to women in pest control, professionals serving K-12 schools, and tribal stakeholders.
“It is important to me to ensure that we reach underserved communities,” said Dr. Niamh Quinn, a human-wildlife interactions advisor with the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Now, more than ever, pest control is so important in our communities, and this is also true for our underserved communities. It was a pleasure to be able to reach out to a diverse group of participants and offer a total of 22 scholarships.”