People, Plants, and Pollinators edition - April 2026

On an April morning in Santa Fe, forest health program manager Victor Lucero describes a surprising sight: the cottony egg masses of pinyon needle scale are already visible on pinyon pine trunks, weeks earlier than usual. This mild winter, the warmest on record for New Mexico, has accelerated the life cycle of endemic forest pests. Lucero’s job is to monitor these insects from a fixed-wing aircraft and on the ground, and to help landowners decide when—and when not—to intervene.

What Integrated Pest Management Actually Means at Scale

Lucero defines integrated pest management (IPM) as a science-based decision-making process that uses multiple tools to manage pests while minimizing risk to humans and the environment. The crucial first step is accurate identification: what looks like a pest might be a beneficial insect, and even a genuine pest may not require action if its population is low enough that the host tree can tolerate it. “The presence of a pest does not necessarily mean that one needs to take any sort of action,” Lucero says.