Eight Partners with Nature to Receive Innovator Awards
SACRAMENTO -- Putting "green" tactics to work on famous fairways.
Creating wildlife habitat in vineyards. Cleaning up urban creeks.
Introducing natural pest control in orchards. These and other success
stories for nature-friendly pest control will earn 1999 IPM Innovator
awards Thursday (November 4) from Cal/EPA's Department of Pesticide
Regulation.
Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox and DPR Director Paul E.
Helliker will present the Innovator awards at 1:30 p.m. ceremonies in
the Governor's Council Room at the State Capitol. IPM -- integrated
pest management -- works with the environment to make it difficult
for pests to survive, while encouraging beneficial organisms to
flourish. IPM Innovator awards recognize organizations that pioneer
least-toxic approaches to pest control and then help others do the
same.
Hickox commended the Innovators. "As Cal/EPA Secretary, I am
committed to being a strong advocate for the environment. So I am
especially pleased to present awards to others who share that deep
commitment. Their contribution to enhancing California's
environmental quality has been exceptional."
DPR Director Paul E. Helliker also praised the recipients.
"People talk about the Silicon Valley as the heart of California's
innovative spirit," said DPR Director Paul E. Helliker. "However,
they have a ways to go to match the pioneering spirit of California's
farmers, who lead the nation in environmental innovation.
"These agricultural innovators believe that they can make a
difference -- and they have," Helliker said. "Through laborious and
costly trial-and-error, over many growing seasons, they developed new
ways to fight age-old pests, with the goal of protecting both the
environment and their financial future.
"And then, contrary to what business-school textbooks tell
you about getting ahead, these innovators shared their solutions with
others in the belief that protecting the environment doesn't stop at
your own property line," Helliker said.
"The non-agricultural innovators faced different problems,
but used a similar approach, sharing the results of their hard work
to help solve stubborn urban pest problems. They approach
environmental education with a missionary zeal that has helped make
our neighborhoods better places to live," said Helliker.
The award winners are:
Aquatic Outreach Institute (AOI), Richmond, develops and manages
educational and outreach programs for creeks, wetlands, and
watersheds in the San Francisco Bay Area. Primarily funded by local
cities and counties, AOI's programs provide thousands of educators,
schoolchildren, and the public with information about aquatic
resources, IPM, and proper pesticide disposal. AOI conducts most of
its programs in the train-the-trainer style, focusing on kindergarten
through 12th-grade teachers. Specific programs include the popular
Kids in Gardens: A Pesticide Reduction Program, now in its third
year. Taught to teachers, this program emphasizes IPM. The teachers
then convey information to their students on insect ecology, pest
management, beneficial insects and insectary plants, native plants
(which are relatively pest free), and urban runoff pollution. Many
AOI programs focus on creek pollution that results from urban
pesticide runoff. Another program, Watching Our Watersheds: Reducing
Pollution through Creek and Gardening Projects helps educators
working in low-income areas. Media contact: Kathy Kramer (510)
231-9507.
Association of Applied Insect Ecologists (AAIE), Sacramento, is a
nonprofit organization of pest control advisors, researchers, and
others dedicated to controlling agricultural, landscape, and
structural pests through IPM. Created in 1967, the association
advocated IPM approaches long before they became popular. Its
200-plus members play a critical role in research, demonstration, and
adoption of IPM for a variety of crops and in urban settings in
California. AAIE sponsors annual meetings, regional breakfast
meetings, workshops, roundtable discussions, and training programs.
AAIE's Web site (www.aaie.com) provides links to other IPM sites. The
organization produces economic studies, publications, and films in
support of IPM, and continues to exchange information and expand
knowledge of applied pest ecology and reduced-risk, cost-effective
pest management options. Because of its focus on IPM, AAIE stands
apart from other professional societies. Media contact: John Plain
(916) 441-5224
Benziger Family Winery, Glen Ellen, is a grape-growing and
wine-producing family business set up as a partnership with all seven
family members working together. The Benzigers produce estate wine
from their own grapes and purchase grapes from more than 60 growers
for other wine labels. Many of their reduced-risk practices are based
on biodynamic principles and include farming without synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides, using compost mixtures, and planting
cover crops. They develop habitat areas in and around vineyards to
build diversity, and prune to manage diseases. On-site plantings
enable the winery to attract and conserve beneficial organisms,
natural enemies of pests. The Benzigers actively educate their
employees, growers, and the public about their IPM practices. They
hold bimonthly viticulture classes for their employees and quarterly
seminars on low-input farming practices for their growers. The winery
gives daily public tours that demonstrate their IPM practices,
focusing on natural and low-input practices of grape growing. The
winery shows strong IPM leadership in the wine grape industry. Media
contact: Chris Benziger (707) 935-4503
California Prune Board, Pleasanton, a state marketing order
representing California's prune growers and packers, has supported
prune IPM research for 20 years. The board was an original supporter
of the Biological Prune Systems (BPS) project, initiated in 1996.
BPS growers experimented with cover crops, hedgerow plantings and
vegetative buffer strips, and eliminated the use of diazinon as a
dormant spray by the project's third year. In 1998 the Board assumed
management of BPS and began supporting the University of California
Environmentally Sound Prune Systems project, patterned after BPS, but
with a UC research focus. Currently, the board oversees both projects
under the Prune Pest Management Alliance. There are 22 demonstration
orchards in the two projects, comparing conventional and reduced-risk
programs. The board provides information on reduced-risk practices at
grower field days and through newsletters. Media contact: Gary
Obenauf (559) 447-2127.
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District ("Central San"), Martinez, is
a wastewater treatment agency that encourages the public to adopt IPM
practices to reduce the risks of pesticide use, enhance local water
quality, and reduce pesticides in wastewater. In partnership with
the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and 13 stores that sell
pesticides, Central San began train-the-trainer IPM workshops for
Master Gardeners. The Master Gardeners in turn held more than 20 IPM
workshops for the public. Central San prepared and distributed
consumer fact sheets on such topics as alternative pest management
for ants and fleas and proper pesticide disposal. To encourage other
agencies to share their IPM information, Central San wrote a how-to
guidebook and hosted a how-to workshop. The District has shown
exceptional leadership in pollution prevention, inspiring the
formation of at least nine other IPM partnerships. Rather than focus
only on proper pesticide disposal, Central San was the first
wastewater treatment agency in California to take a preventive
approach and promote IPM as a means to reduce pesticides in
wastewater. Media contact: Paul Morsen (925) 229-7305.
LangeTwins, Inc., Acampo, is a partnership of brothers Randall and
Brad Lange, who grow grapes for wineries and manage vineyards for
others. Their corporation, created in 1979, started with about 300
acres. Today they own or manage more than 5,000 acres of vineyards.
Working with an independent pest control advisor, they monitor for
insects; use drip irrigation systems that allow them to spoon-feed
stressed vines; manage the leaf canopy (such as pulling leaves to
allow air circulation, thus reducing disease and the need for
fungicides); plant cover crops that help aerate the soil, attract
beneficial insects, and create refuges for birds and snakes; select
trellis systems to achieve optimum vine balance and health; and use
electrostatic sprayers to apply pesticides more precisely. The Lange
vineyards are often sites for research on alternative practices. The
Langes volunteered their vineyards for the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape
Commission BIFS demonstration project and routinely hosted half-day
grower meetings and field days during the three-year project.
LangeTwins, Inc., is an excellent example of an IPM Innovator because
of its commitment to IPM practices and its demonstrated leadership
and outreach. Media contact: Susan Lange (209) 339-4055.
Pebble Beach Company, Pebble Beach, is a multi-facility recreational
company in the Monterey Bay area that includes five golf courses, the
17-Mile Drive, and parts of the Del Monte Forest. In 1993, the
company established its Resource Management Division to oversee and
guide golf course and forestry operations. Since then, the division
has expanded to include all facets of natural resources management
within Del Monte Forest. The company conducts turfgrass, pesticide,
irrigation, and maintenance equipment trials. It has researched
treatments for pitch canker disease, and the uses of prescribed burns
and mechanical tilling for forest regeneration. In the Del Monte
Forest, the company weeds selectively by hand and uses goats for
brush control. On its golf courses, to control English daisy, Pebble
Beach uses plugging on the greens and spot spraying and hand pulling
on the fairways. Grass varieties are selected according to disease
and insect resistance. Beneficial fungi are also used for disease
control. The company installs nesting boxes for owls and bats for
rodent and insect control. The company readily shares IPM information
with golf course superintendents, forestry personnel, and the 2,900
residents within the Del Monte Forest through in-house training and
public outreach and education programs. The company publishes a
monthly Pebble Beach Scoreboard along with various informational
flyers on pest status and controls. Media contact: Edward C. (Ted)
Horton (831) 625-8419.
Weddle, Hansen & Associates, Inc., Placerville, is an independent
consulting business started by Pat Weddle in 1975. The company
provides its clients information on biologically intensive IPM for
pear and apple, charging a fee for service. For almost 25 years, the
firm has displayed leadership through promotion and implementation of
bio-intensive IPM and reduced-risk pest management. The firm
pioneered commercial biologically intensive IPM consulting for pome
fruit in El Dorado, Sacramento, and Solano counties in the mid-1970s.
It initiated the first commercial-scale project to control codling
moth with pheromone mating disruption in California pears and apples.
The success of this reduced-risk effort led to participation in the
Randall Island Project, now in its sixth year of operation. Growers
participating in this project now use 85 percent fewer pounds of
organophosphate (OP) insecticides. The project has been a catalyst
for similar IPM projects on tree fruit throughout the western states,
including large-scale university and federal programs. The firm is
also involved in the Pear Pest Management Alliance. The Alliance uses
information from the Randall Island Project to reduce OP usage in
other pear-growing areas statewide. Media contact: Pat Weddle, (530)
622-9061.
IPM Innovator awards are one segment of DPR's overall
reduced-risk pest management strategy. While the awards provide rare
public recognition for IPM pioneers, DPR also encourages adoption of
innovative pest management through demonstration and applied research
grants. Since 1996, DPR has awarded about $4.3 million in grants for
reduced-risk pest management. DPR will award another $800,000 early
next year. DPR sponsors both localized, industry-specific projects
(Pest Management Grants program) and large-scale, industry- and
statewide projects (the Pest Management Alliance). About 120 projects
have been funded by these programs. DPR staffers also meet informally
with agricultural and urban interest groups to share IPM information
and exchange ideas.
More information on DPR's reduced-risk programs is available
from DPR's Environmental Monitoring and Pest Management Branch, 830 K
Street, Sacramento 95814-3510, phone (916) 324-4100. Additional
information on the IPM Innovator program is also available on DPR's
Web site <www.cdpr.ca.gov>.
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