California’s forests and urban canopies are under increasing pressure from invasive pests, and staying ahead requires knowledge, strategy, and action. This in-depth seminar brings together leading experts to break down the real-world impacts of today’s most damaging invasive insects, including ISHB, GSOB, SAPW, and DPLB.
Attendees will gain practical insights into identification, current research, and proven management approaches, capped off with an outdoor demo showcasing tools and techniques you can apply immediately.
Date: Thursday, March 26th 2026
Time: 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM
Location: Sycuan Casino Resort
5469 Casino Way, El Cajon, CA 92019
Room Name: Ballroom
Free Event
3.75 ISA CEUs approved
Lunch is provided
Parking instructions will be provided once registered.
Registration
Agenda
8:00–8:30 AM Registration / Sign-In / Breakfast
8:30–8:35 AM Introduction
Cody Martin, Southwest Territory Manager, Rainbow Ecoscience
- Welcome
- Safety brief
- Housekeeping logistics
- Review the agenda for the day and expectations
- Introduction of guest speakers and Rainbow staff
8:35–9:05 AM Impacts of Invasive Pests
Imagine Shaw, Technical Advisor, Rainbow Ecoscience
Invasive insects and pathogens are reshaping our landscapes faster than trees can adapt. Emerald ash borer, Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, boxwood blight, invasive shot hole borers, goldspotted oak borer, South American palm weevil, and emerging vascular diseases demonstrate how rapidly invasives overwhelm hosts.
This session explores plant defense systems through a genetic and evolutionary lens, examining why traditional IPM tools such as identification, quarantine, and exclusion can slow, but not stop, these threats. While all management strategies carry impacts, chemical protectants remain critical for preserving trees during active infestations. Without intervention, widespread tree loss is not a risk, it is inevitable.
Imagine Shaw
Imagine is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist and horticulturist with expertise in consulting, plant health care, and sustainable landscape management. Shaw is passionate about educating communities and serves as the Vice President of the Southern Chapter ISA, as well as the Secretary and Education Liaison for the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council.
9:05–9:35 AM “Palmageddon” turns 15, SAPW update in San Diego & Orange County - Virtual Presentation
Ricardo Aguilar, Founder, CEO - Aguilar Plant Care
Ricardo Aguilar will provide an introduction to the South American Palm Weevil (SAPW), outlining its emergence in San Diego and spread into Orange County. He will review the current Orange County management plan, including monitoring, regulatory response, and best management practices. The presentation will also cover practical management strategies, with a focus on insecticide options and implementation approaches to help protect high-value palms and slow the pest’s spread.
Ricardo Aguilar
Ricardo Aguilar has been a certified QAL applicator since 2006 and an ISA Certified Arborist since 2013. In 2010, he and his wife Emily founded Aguilar Plant Care with a mission to provide honest, professional, and science-based Plant and Tree Health Care services.
Over the past 15 years, Aguilar Plant Care has developed effective treatment programs and management strategies to address the growing threats from pests and diseases in urban trees and landscapes. The company has grown to a fleet of 15 specialized PHC trucks, serving a wide range of clients—from small residential properties and large private estates to HOAs, commercial sites, and even attractions like Legoland. Its service area covers all of San Diego and Orange Counties, with expanding reach into parts of Riverside and Los Angeles Counties.
Ricardo and his team have been deeply involved in managing the South American Palm Weevil since early 2015, participating in management efforts, research trials, and continued monitoring that now extend into Orange County. Through extensive hands-on experience, they have refined practical approaches to early detection and effective management treatments.
Ricardo will share insights and real-world experience from over a decade of dealing with the South American Palm Weevil.
9:35–9:45 AM 10-Minute Break
9:45–10:15 AM Addressing the Goldspotted Oak Borer (GSOB) Crisis
Kim Corella, Forest Pathologist in the Forest Entomology and Pathology Program with CAL FIRE.
Since its identification in San Diego County in 2008, the Goldspotted Oak Borer (GSOB) (Agrilus auroguttatus) has become the most significant insect threat to California’s oak woodlands. Attacking mature Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), California black oak (Q. kelloggii), and canyon live oak (Q. chrysolepis), this invasive woodborer has now spread to at least six counties—San Diego, Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and most recently, Ventura County. As of 2026, research from UC Riverside Department of Entomology estimates that GSOB has killed over 200,000 oak trees across Southern California. The detection of GSOB in Ventura County in late 2024 and early 2025 represents a critical expansion. Infestations have been confirmed in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, positioning the pest just miles from the extensive oak populations of the Santa Monica Mountains—a "worst-case scenario" for regional land managers. These outbreaks are largely attributed to the human movement of infested firewood. To combat this expansion, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) and CAL FIRE have launched the GSOB BLITZ. This community-science initiative trains volunteers to identify diagnostic signs of GSOB and promote “Don’t Move Firewood” campaigns to slow the beetle’s spread. Current GSOB management and research efforts focus on both mitigation and long-term suppression of GSOB by studying the effects of climate change, fuel loading and fire impacts, long-term insecticide efficacy, and firewood mitigation.
Kim Corella
Kim is from upstate New York, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Management and Environmental Forest Biology from SUNY ESF at Syracuse. She then received her Master of Science degree from Texas A&M in plant pathology. Her previous work experience includes being Oak Wilt Coordinator for the Texas Forest Service and Forest Pathologist for University of Nevada, Reno. She is currently the Forest Pathologist with the Forest Entomology and Pathology Program with CAL FIRE and has been in that role for the past 18 years. She responds to and manages insects and disease matters on state and private lands in Southern California from Monterey County to San Diego. A few of her duties include providing technical assistance, biological evaluations on forest health issues, conducting applied research, and plans and conducts pest surveys and trainings. Kim is also registered professional forester and a pesticide control advisor and really loves trees!
10:15–10:45 AM Invasive Shot Hole Borer Overview and Best Management Practices
Kelly Parkins, Pest Control Advisor, West Coast Arborist
Summary of Invasive Shot Hole Borers pest-disease complex, impact on the urban forest, best practices in control and management, and examples of tangible outcomes linked to management approaches.
Kelly Parkins
Kelly Parkins is the Pest Control Advisor for West Coast Arborists, joining the company in 2021. Career endeavors include work in arboriculture, golf and sports turf, and park maintenance in the municipal sector. She is a licensed Pest Control Advisor, a Certified Arborist, and a Certified Crop Advisor. She has a bachelo’s degree in biology from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in plant science from Cal Poly Pomona. Her work includes program development, site-specific tree monitoring, pesticide treatment recommendations, regulatory compliance, and client consultation.
10:45–11:15 AM Updates on Managing Dotted Paropsine Leaf Beetle
Eric Middleton, UC Cooperative Extension, UC ANR. Area Integrated Pest Management Advisor
Dotted paropsine leaf beetle (DPLB) is an invasive pest of eucalyptus that has rapidly spread across Southern California in the past several years. Unfortunately little is known about how best to manage this pest aside from personal experience from arborists and pest control companies. We conducted trials on small foliage eucalyptus to test two systemic insecticides (imidacloprid and dinotefuran) and determine how long they could protect trees from DPLB feeding. We also tested a foliar application of spinosad to determine if it was effective at killing feeding DPLB larvae. We found spinosad killed all larvae feeding on trees, although it had little to no residual activity. Both imidacloprid and dinotefuran treatments prevented almost all feeding damage from DPLB and continued to be lethal to DPLB adults and larvae up to 8 months after treatments were applied. Our results suggest spinosad is effective to rapidly knock back existing DPLB infestations, and imidacloprid and dinotefuran can be effective against DPLB long-term if taken up by the tree.
Eric Middleton
Eric Middleton works with UC Cooperative Extension as an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor focused on arthropod pests. Although he is based in San Diego County, Eric is also responsible for IPM needs in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Eric works with growers and communities wherever pests are in issue, including in nursery and floriculture production, landscapes, citrus and avocado groves, and the many small farms found in Southern California.
11:15 AM–12:00 PM Lunch
12:00–1:00 PM Best Management Practices for Plant Health Care Applications
Patrick Anderson, Director of Research & Arborologists, Rainbow Ecoscience
Effective plant healthcare relies on delivering treatments in ways that maximize efficacy while minimizing environmental impact and stress to trees. This presentation will review best management practices (BMPs) for applying plant healthcare products, including soil-applied and systemic options, with a primary focus on modern tree injection techniques. Attendees will gain insights into selecting appropriate delivery methods, understanding how tree physiology influences uptake, and implementing injection protocols that support tree vitality while ensuring predictable, consistent results.
Patrick Anderson
Patrick is a joyous educator with Rainbow Ecoscience, where he provides direction for Rainbow’s Regional Technical Arboricultural/Horticultural Advisors and Research Scientists. He has years of practical tree care experience, has a B.S. in Forest Science from Penn State University, is an ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist and Urban Forest Professional, ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, an ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist, ASCA Tree & Plant Appraisal Qualified, and a North Carolina Licensed Landscape Contractor. In addition, he served as the associate voting member of the ASC A300 Committee and as President of the American Society of Consulting Arborists.
1:00–1:05 PM Afternoon Break & Assemble Outside
1:05–2:00 PM Tree Injection Demonstrations & Training
Gabe Verduzco, Arborologist, Rainbow Ecoscience
During this field demonstration, participants will learn about tree injection tools used to deliver effective treatments. We will cover proper application techniques and review in-field best practices to ensure safe, accurate, and successful tree injections.
Gabe Verduzco
Gabe brings 18 years of experience in the plant healthcare field, including USDA research, horticulturalist for a botanical garden, starting a small fruit farm while living in Hawaii, and a research associate with the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division. He is excited to bring his expertise in PHC with invasive tree pests and plant diseases in his region. Gabriel holds his ISA Certified Arborist license as well as his California PCA license – Pest Control Advisor.
2:00 PM Closing Remarks
