4__TIPS-PREVENT-FAILED-INSPECTIONS-20230830.pdf

TIPS to prevent a failed LFA/Invasive species inspection:

All vehicles including personally owned vehicles of each worker, supervisor and occasional visits to the worksite by managers, company trucks, trucks with trailers (the trailers get inspected too), and the equipment or supplies brought up must be inspected at the Volcano inspection site prior to entering the park, on the same day, and each day, it would be going into the park. Unfortunately, our staff cannot accommodate a request to inspect equipment at base yards. We don’t work off-site, and we usually have a dozen or more other inspections to complete each day.

It is up to contractors and subcontractors to bring the items up in a very clean condition. While we only test for LFA, we also conduct visual inspections for other sorts of invasive species, mostly plants, but any organic materials that could pose a threat to the fragile ecosystems being managed in the park. Here is some advice to prevent a failed inspection.

1. Remove all organic materials such as wooden boards, blocking, ropes, pallets and anything you might not even realize is on or in the vehicle. Wet wood, especially older pieces that have rotted ends or holes in them, a small pile of leaves, branches or other debris, other types of insect nests, mud, plants growing from between boards, in wheel fenders and bumpers, under the hood, etc. Don’t bring trash, and if you have a trash collection bag or bucket, empty and clean it daily.

2. Pressure-wash the vehicle or equipment, leaving no place for LFA or other live insects or animals to inhabit.

3. Chemical treatments can be done to give the cleaned equipment a longer protection timeframe.

Use a product that contains bifenthrin, such as BIFEN I/T OR TALSTAR PRO at a rate of 1-oz per gallon of water. Be sure to read the label and use PPE before using it. Spray the equipment, especially on tires or tracks, footing or other parts that touch the ground. Also spray along hydraulic lines, on the battery seats, under floor mats, etc. You can also spray it on all sides and ends of boards and blocking, pallets, ropes etc. if you need them back on the truck or trailer. If the trailer has boards for a base, that whole trailer will need treatment too, although I have found LFA on trailers that were completely made of metal. There is a lasting effect, from 30-60 days, depending on how often it gets rained on. Any ants that land on the equipment or crawl into places that were treated will not survive.

Let everything dry before coming up. This will probably mean doing it the day before delivery. Then do your own peanut butter test before it gets loaded onto the trailer (if that is the case), and test the trailer too along with the truck that’s pulling it up. Use enough sticks (popsicle or chopsticks cut in half) to cover all parts of the equipment (example, a forklift might need 24 – 36 sticks, depending on its size.

The smallest forklift might take about 10-15 sticks, minimum 10.) Keep track of how many sticks per item tested and note what time it is when the last stick is placed. Go back and check the sticks after about 20-30 minutes. If you use less sticks, wait at least 45 minutes. More sticks, less time, but no less than 15 minutes. If no sticks come up with any type of insect, you’ll have a pretty good idea that it should pass the test in Volcano.