For lawn care operators (LCOs) and others involved in the green industry, the term “write your congressman” has never been more applicable. As states and counties continue to pass legislation regarding pesticide use and environmental matters, LCOs need an organization to which they can turn to voice their own concerns.
Enter the Federal IPM Coordinating Committee. Comprised of representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and several national research agencies, the Washington, D.C.-based committee facilitates communication between these agencies and green industry members who deal with integrated pest management (IPM).
Formed in response to a 2000 General Accounting Office report, “the committee was set up to make sure there is communication and coordination among all of the federal agencies involved so the left hand knows what the right hand is doing,” explains Harold Coble, USDA agronomist and committee chairman. “Another major function is to get stakeholder input from across the country to make sure our federal resources are applied in the most efficient manner to respond to those needs.”
Still in its early stages, Coble notes that the committee’s purpose is not to create a national IPM definition or a prescribed set of instructions for performing IPM. On the contrary, “we do not anticipate telling anybody what they should do in terms of creating a definition – that’s a local issue and we will not try to do that from a federal level,” he comments. “We think that the real expertise in terms of meeting needs lies out in the local areas. What we’ll try to do is make those people’s jobs easier.”
IPM stakeholders like LCOs are encouraged to offer their feedback via four regional IPM centers around the country. Coble notes that early feedback has stressed the need to find economical pest management options in response to label changes required by the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, and also to look at environmental aspects of pest management to ensure that water and air remain clean. For more information on the committee’s objectives or to offer your opinion, visit www.ipmcenters.org and locate your regional pest management center.
The author is assistant editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspeirs@lawnandlandscape.com.