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Department of Pesticide Regulation Announces 2012 IPM Innovator Awards

Media Contact: Paul Verke
916-445-4300 | Paul.Verke@cdpr.ca.gov
March 14, 2013 (13-1)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Four Organizations Honored for Reducing Pesticide Use
(Editors/reporters: Honorees are based in Fresno, San Diego, Ventura, San Francisco, and Alameda counties.)

SACRAMENTO – Today, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recognized the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship, Hearts Pest Management, Limoneira Company, and the University of California, San Francisco California Childcare Health Program with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Innovator Awards.

“This year's honorees are reducing pesticide use in agricultural areas and in child care centers and other public places in diverse ways that range from using less toxic alternatives to creating partnerships and developing educational materials,” said DPR Director Brian Leahy. “We applaud their commitment to using pest control practices to protect public health and the environment and willingness to share their practices with others.”

Since 1994, 137 IPM Innovator Awards have been given to California organizations for their efforts to reduce risks associated with pesticide use and for sharing their research and methods with others.

The 2012 IPM Innovators include:

  • Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship (CURES): Established in 1997, CURES is a nonprofit organization with the mission to create and deliver science-based solutions and education to ensure that tools to manage pests and grow plants are used in ways that protect people and the environment.
  • Hearts Pest Management: Hearts provides pest management services to residential and commercial customers and others IPM-based solutions to all of its customers, not just to those that specifically request it. It operates in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties.
  • Limoneira Company: Limoneira, based in Ventura County, has a long history of IPM practices in the California citrus and avocado industries. Limoneira also owns several area developments and has included landscape and structural IPM strategies in its plans for new developments in Santa Paula.
  • University of California, San Francisco, California Childcare Health Program (CCHP): In 2007, CCHP in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health, UC Statewide IPM Program, and child care providers and child care health consultants, received a grant from DPR to develop an IPM program for child care providers throughout the state. The group surveyed child care providers to establish current pest management practices and then developed an IPM Toolkit for Early Care and Education Programs (Toolkit) in English and Spanish for the management of pests common in child care centers.

One of five departments and boards within the California Environmental Protection Agency, DPR regulates the registration, sale and use of pesticides to protect people and the environment.

Detailed summaries of the 2012 IPM Innovators

More information about IPM Innovator Awards

Link to IPM Innovator video series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/CaliforniaPesticides

DPR is now on Facebook! See photographs of the award ceremony here: https://www.facebook.com/CaPesticideRegulation

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