October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 29

Managing Expectations
Ryan Anderson, program and communications manager for Midwest Pesticide
Action Center (MPAC), explains: " Some
parks have been using pesticides for so
long that the soil has become dependent,
so going cold turkey is not the best option. We recommend coming up with a
plan over three to five years and weaning the soil off the dependency, while
building organic matter. " For the past
eight years, the Chicago Park District has
partnered with MPAC and committed to
limit the use of pesticides in its parks.
Close to 90 percent of Chicago parks
now practice natural lawn care and avoid
spraying weed control chemicals. MPAC
aims to reduce the use of harmful synthetic pesticides in parks by promoting
safer, natural alternatives as part of its
" A Natural Park Is a Healthy Park " campaign. The agency does this by empowering citizen action groups with information and working with them and the city
to improve policies. Anderson also noted
that it's very important to manage community expectations when it comes to
costs, and it can be helpful to start with a
demonstration field.
Also partnering with MPAC is the city
of Boulder Parks and Recreation. It primarily uses Integrated Pest Management
(IPM) practices while trying to balance
the needs of athletic field users who desire a weed-free turf. Boulder Parks and
Recreation has not been using herbicides
on managed turf for almost 15 years. It
acknowledges that resource constraints
are a big obstacle to managing parks organically - specifically staffing levels,
IPM is an environmentally sensitive and
proactive approach to controlling pests
and disease focused on the longterm prevention and suppression of pests with the
least harmful pest control methods. IPM
allows for the judicious use of pesticides as
a last resort.

equipment needs, funding for materials
and testing. Boulder has also worked to
increase community awareness and acceptance of weeds, such as dandelions in
parks, noting that dandelions are a sign
of a healthy place where synthetic chemicals have been eliminated.
" The transition was tough at first,
there were some complaints from neighbors early on, " says John Cogdill, park
turf and irrigation manager for Boulder
Parks and Recreation. " It definitely requires more work, aeration, and is more
time consuming. You have to be consistent. Results won't show up in a month
or two; it takes some time. But giving the
community a safe field is more important
and outweighs the problem of having to
control some dandelions in the spring, "
he adds. According to Cogdill, 99.5 percent of the community agrees with him.
Montgomery Parks in Montgomery
County, Maryland, also practices IPM
methods to control weeds and other pests
while minimizing the use of pesticides. It
acknowledges that reducing pesticide use
requires many critical resources, such as
sustainable design, quality equipment
and materials, and staff trained in alternative practices and proper monitoring
for pest problems. In 2016, Montgomery
Parks began a pesticide-free parks pilot
program to eliminate the use of pesticides in 11 parks and gather valuable
information about the impact and best
practices associated with maintaining
parks without pesticides.

A growing number of communities
are not in favor of the use and overuse
of synthetic chemicals on public lands
and are counting on park and recreation
agencies to take the necessary actions to
ensure healthy community spaces. Earlier this year, NRPA conducted a member
survey on sustainability practices that
included a question about responsible
natural land management. Of the nearly 400 park and recreation agencies that
participated in the survey, 76 percent indicated controlling invasive plants with
less toxic means, 67 percent indicated
following sustainable turf management
practices and 66 percent indicated following IPM practices.
Park and recreation agencies have a
responsibility to train their staff in environmentally sensitive approaches to
managing landscapes, while improving and preserving the health of the
soil and living organisms within the
soil, using native plants and improving
water quality. And, of course, it's also
important to manage expectations and
educate communities on proper natural landscape management and involve
them in the process.
For agencies interested in reducing their
own pesticide use, consult MPAC's Municipal Pesticide Reduction Toolkit - http://
midwestpesticideaction.org/wp-content/
uploads/2014/04/Final-Toolkit-4-21-2014NY.pdf.
Serda Ozbenian, MS, is NRPA's Conservation
Program Manager (sozbenian@nrpa.org).

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October 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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