Community IPM: Reducing risks across New York state
Summary
The New York State Community Integrated Pest Management (NYS CIPM) Program at Cornell University is the only one of its kind in the country and addresses pest problems where people live, learn, work, and play--using methods that pose minimal risk to human health and the environment. We help the state's 19 million residents find new alternative ways to manage the pests that damage our landscapes, contaminate our food and living spaces, and pose risks to human health. Funds for the NYS CIPM Program, during seven of the last eight years, have been provided by New York State through an appropriation to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
The Issue
New Yorkers demand a safe environment, and many communities have mandated restrictions on pesticide use. Yet both pests and the methods used to control them may pose risks. For example, parents want children to be safe from wasps, but the public doesn’t want pesticides used in schools. Parks, golf courses, homes, hospitals, office buildings—wherever we work or learn, live or play, we face similar issues. Professional pest managers are willing to use lower-risk alternatives—if those IPM methods are proven effective. The research to discover and develop these techniques and the extension to train managers are essential for change to occur. At the same time, teaching our citizens about environmentally friendly, scientifically-sound options for preventing and managing pests helps them make informed decisions that can have a profound and cumulative effect on New York’s environmental and economic well-being.
Impacts
- We created the IPM Workbook for NYS Schools and distributed it to all 702 public school districts in NY, and trained 3,000 employees from over 250 districts. We helped schools solve specific problems with mice, ants, lice, bees and wasps, weeds and more—and taught them how to handle the problem themselves next time.
- We provide over 20 IPM training opportunities to professionals in New York’s turfgrass industry each year. Our golf course research shows that IPM putting greens can be maintained with 30-66% fewer pesticide applications—and up to 85% less environmental impact—than on conventionally managed greens. Turf managers trust IPM’s science-based techniques, and we have a strong and positive influence on the management of New York’s 3.5 million acres of turf.
- Our brochures, booklets, and public service announcements encourage New Yorkers to adopt IPM techniques at home. And by learning IPM methods for dealing with ants in their kitchen or grubs in their lawn, citizens can better understand pest management decisions that farmers make to grow the food we eat or that school facilities managers make to protect our children.
- Bed bugs are a newly resurged and significant pest problem in hotels, apartments and houses—at all economic levels. Our online bed bug fact sheet was visited 56,000 times in 2006! See it for yourself at http://nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/publand.asp
- We created and distributed IPM for Municipal Buildings, a manual and educational CD that guides facilities managers in municipal settings in choosing less-toxic ways to manage pest problems.
- In response to the emergence of West Nile Virus, we created and distributed 31,000 copies of What’s all the Buzz about Mosquitoes (in both English and Spanish). http://nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/publand.asp
- We worked with Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources, through DEC funding, to create a new curriculum for nuisance wildlife control operators. This curriculum is being applauded as a national model.
- We created IPM lessons and modules to teach elementary school children, and their families, how IPM is science-based and can improve and protect their homes and communities. We partnered with the New York Agriculture in the Classroom Program to produce the Science of Life: Exploration through Agriculture Curriculum. It includes detailed lesson plans for teachers, activities for students, and “trunks” full of really cool IPM resources that can be loaned out to schools.
Provided
The latest in IPM: Hot water machines kill weeds without herbicide.
Provided
Research at Bethpage State Park has shown that IPM putting greens use 30-66% fewer pesticide applications, and have up to 85% less environmental impact, than conventionally managed greens.
Contact
Dr. Jennifer GrantAssistant Director and Community IPM Coordinator
NYS IPM Program
630 West North Street
Geneva, NY 14456
Phone: 315-787-2209
Email: jag7@cornell.edu