Pest Management Alliance Grants Awarded 2007-2010

Back to Funded Pest Management Alliance Grants (2007 - present)

Project Summaries

Pesticide-Free Park & Demonstration Gardens at Guadalupe River Park
Sponsor: City of San Jose
Principal Investigator: James Downing and Sanhita Ghosal
Funding totals: $200,000

The project will help address the use of pesticides, specifically triclopyr, glyphosate and oxadiazon to manage weed and vertebrate pest issues in the Courtyard Gardens of the Guadalupe River Park by creating a pesticide-free park project to be maintained using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices and constructing two demonstration gardens that utilize IPM principles. The Guadalupe River Park Alliance project requires a diverse team that can collaboratively address the adoption, training, and encourage public adoption of IPM strategies. The Management Team includes members of the Environmental Services and the Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services (PRNS) Departments of the City of San José, Santa Clara County, and the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy. By demonstrating the effectiveness of IPM through the demonstration gardens, training of municipal and commercial landscapers and residents, and various multimedia educational materials and guides, the project will promote widespread adoption of IPM as an effective means of pest management in urban parks and gardens.


IPM Advocates for Retail Stores
Sponsor: Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association (BASMAA)
Principal Investigator: Geoff Brosseau
Funding totals: $170,000

The project will help address two fundamental issues: (1) environmental and health problems resulting from improper or overuse of pesticides sold to consumers and (2) the lack of knowledge by retailers and customers of safer IPM alternatives that reduce or avoid these problems.

The goal of the project is to improve delivery of IPM information at retail stores through education of employees and customers. The key components (e.g., relationships with retail stores) and information sources (e.g., UC IPM web site, Our Water, Our World resources) to create an IPM Advocate program for retail stores are already in place. What is missing is a corps of IPM Advocates to help expand these existing components and respond to stores’ need for assistance with inventory selection, marketing, and employee training.

The successful Our Water, Our World Program coordinated by BASMAA has demonstrated the need for and viability of government agencies partnering with retailers to provide information to store employees and consumers. UC IPM provides IPM educational materials, online training, and information kiosks for loan to cooperating retailers.

While such efforts have been successful, demonstrated by the demand from retail stores, there are not enough IPM Advocates to meet this demand. Agencies will pay for the services of qualified professionals. And, as more of the traditional pesticides are being phased out or are abandoned by an increasingly green audience, there is an increased need for accurate information on alternative practices and products for store employees, and a primary source of pest management information for consumers. Safer, effective products are in stores now; interested consumers just need to be directed to them.

To address this need, the investigators will develop an IPM Advocate profile, develop the curriculum, identify trainees, conduct the Advocate training and certificate program, and develop an Advocate coordination and mentoring program. The investigators will implement the IPM Advocate coordination and mentoring program. IPM Advocates will provide assistance to stores with inventory selection, in-store displays, marketing, and employee training workshops. The investigators will create a web page, evaluate the program, and identify ways to maintain it.


Healthy Homes Alliance
Sponsor: Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles
Principal Investigator: Martha Dina Arguello
Funding totals: $200,000

The proposed Healthy Homes Alliance project will address the overuse and misuse of pesticides to manage pest infestations in primarily low-income housing where the problem is particularly acute and the potential for human exposure to pesticides is high—by increasing access to safer and more effective pest management practices via adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) practices by tenants, maintenance personnel, and apartment managers or owners. The multi-faceted Healthy Homes Alliance model IPM project requires a diverse team that can collaboratively address the training, outreach, IPM interventions, evaluation, and broad dissemination goals of the project. The Healthy Homes Alliance management team includes diverse partners: Physicians for Social Responsibility–LA, Healthy Homes Collaborative, and Colby Pest Control. Strong partnerships with Pestec, Green Shield Certified, Californians for Pesticide Reform, and several community groups: Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, Coalition for Economic Survival, People’s CORE, Los Angeles Community Legal Center, and Inquilinos Unidos add to that expertise. By demonstrating the effectiveness of IPM in two privately owned, multi-unit housing complexes in Los Angeles, and using that demonstration, outreach to local public health and housing authorities, media, and an assortment of multimedia materials, the project will promote widespread adoption of IPM as an effective and affordable means of pest management with significant public health benefits.


Demonstration & Implementation of IPM in Bedding & Container Color Plant Production
Sponsor: UC Davis
Principal Investigator: Michael Parrella
Funding totals: $139,000

The project addresses two Pest Management Alliance Program Priority Areas: Integrated pest management (IPM) in Urban Environments and IPM in Agriculture (non-production). The bedding and container color plant industry provides plant material for the urban environment in the form of bedding plants, which are planted into the ground, and container color, which are used for indoor and outdoor decoration in containers. These plants are produced and sold year-round. Many of the arthropod, pathogen, and nematode pests affecting the plants in production have the potential to remain with the plants when they are sold and moved to the urban landscape. Thus, the adoption of IPM by this industry will result in healthier plants with fewer pest problems for the urban landscape. In addition, most bedding plant producers are situated adjacent to their urban markets; this represents intense sites of pesticide application in populated areas.

This commodity group encompasses about one hundred plant species and several hundred varieties. Not every grower produces the same plant mix, although there are some plant species common to every grower. Some of the same species of plants may be produced for either bedding plants or container color, while others are grown solely for indoor or outdoor use. The common arthropod, disease, and weed pests occur on all plant species grown. In California, production of these plants is rapid; an eight to ten week crop cycle is typical. Most growers make their profits from rapid turnover of large numbers of plants, which results in low tolerance for pest injury and limited options for the generally slower biological control options that are available.

Given this crop diversity, it is not possible to focus on pest management for individual plant/pest combinations. We will look instead at changes that can be made in the cropping system to affect many pests, through incorporating pest monitoring into daily greenhouse management activities, and use of natural enemies and biopesticides.

The project goal is to reduce overall pesticide use in the production of bedding and container color plants by 30%, and to reduce organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid use to 15% of total insecticide applications. This will be accomplished by forming a collaborative, interdisciplinary Alliance team that has extensive experience solving problems for the bedding plant industry.


IPM Continuing Education for Maintenance Gardeners
Sponsor: San Luis Obispo County Ag Commissioner's Office
Principal Investigator: Tamara Kleemann
Funding totals: $61,000

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Urban Pest Management Working Group identified education and outreach to landscape professionals who use pesticides as an important measure to reduce pesticide movement from urban landscapes. Maintenance Gardeners (MGs), estimated at 17,000 in California, apply pesticides as part of their services, relying on retail pesticide sales staff, previous experience, or their clients for information. A collaboration of community partners will deliver conventional IPM systems to MGs and to retail sales employees from whom they purchase pesticides. Three seasonally appropriate bilingual workshops will be held at participating retailers who have participated in IPM training. Peer trainers will be identified for workshop participation. Project outcomes will include training and curriculum materials to meet DPR-accredited continuing education that supports license requirements. IPM education will lead to improved decision-making regarding pest management in urban landscapes, providing safer working conditions for MGs and reductions in the use and misuse of pesticides.


Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems (BIOS) for Canning Peaches
Sponsor: UC Riverside
Principal Investigator: Marshall Johnson
Funding totals: $195,000

The overall goal is to reduce the use of organophosphates and carbamates in canning peach orchards in the San Joaquin Valley by 20% by demonstrating pheromone-based mating disruption, reduced-risk pesticides, conservation and enhancement of biological control, and other methods expressed in The Seasonal Guide to Environmentally Responsible Pest Management Practices in Peaches and Nectarines.

Our target audience includes the canning peach growers and affiliated pest control advisers and crop consultants in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, and Fresno counties in the San Joaquin Valley. Data on pesticide use will be collected from the major peach processors in the area to assess adoption upon completion of the project. After project completion, the work will be expanded to the Sacramento Valley and the southern region of the San Joaquin Valley. This expansion will be accomplished by acquisition of additional funding and enlisting other University of California (UC) personnel and the growers with whom they work.


IPM Curriculum for Urban Child Care Programs
Sponsor: UC San Francisco
Principal Investigator: Abbey Alkon
Funding totals: $215,000

This project will develop and implement an IPM curriculum for urban child care programs in California. Initially, the Alliance team will develop materials for a pilot program to be conducted in two Bay Area child care centers. These materials will be revised after feedback and learning from the pilot program and translated into Spanish.

The finalized IPM Toolkit will be mass-produced and provided to Resource and Referral centers for dissemination. Additionally, the Alliance team will conduct either workshops on the IPM Toolkit for providers, as well as a ‘train the trainer’ program.

Alliance team members will continue to receive and incorporate feedback through the project period before publishing finalized materials on the California Childcare Health Program’s website. Final materials will also be mass produced in hard copy and distributed to the childcare community through conferences, trainings, and events. Ultimately, the Alliance team intends to reach hundreds of providers through project activities and positively impact thousands of California children.


Management of Pesticide Runoff in San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta & San Joaquin County Waterways
Sponsor: San Joaquin Co. Resource Conservation District
Principal Investigator: Mike Wackman
Funding totals: $175,000

This project seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of IPM in agriculture involving pesticides of human health concern found in water. These pesticides are also of environmental concern in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) for possible connection to Pelagic Organism Decline. The proposed project seeks to address non-point source runoff from specific agricultural sources and materials into the waterways of San Joaquin County and the Delta. In the course of compliance monitoring for the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP) for San Joaquin County and the Delta, several pesticides have been detected in waterways across the service area for the San Joaquin County and Delta Water Quality Coalition (Coalition). These pesticides include: chlorpyrifos (Lorsban), carbofuran, and diazinon. In addition, there have been sediment toxicity exceedances traced to pyrethroids.

The specific agricultural sources to be addressed by the proposed project include pesticides used on alfalfa, walnuts, tomatoes, and winegrapes. The project will focus on preventing these contaminants and others from entering surface waters by implementing management practices known to reduce or and/or prevent non-point source runoff.

The Coalition is in the process of completing management plans for each of several sub-watershed areas. These management plans include IPM practices suggested for specific crops common to each sub-watershed. These IPM practices include: pest monitoring, hedgerow planting for beneficial insects, and the use of pheromone treatments to name a few. New IPM practices include switching to more water-soluble chemicals, enzyme treatment of tail-water return systems, and targeted pesticide applications along with environmentally softer chemicals.

The primary goal of the project is a 10% reduction in toxicity hits due to targeted pesticides in regular water quality monitoring for the ILRP in San Joaquin County and the Delta. There are 15 sites currently monitored for ILRP compliance. Each has recorded some type of toxicity at least once during the past three years. This program seeks to eventually eliminate toxicity hits due to chlorpyrifos, carbofuran, and diazinon found during IPRP monitoring. An intermediate goal is to reduce toxicity occurrences in testing at targeted monitoring sites by 3% at the end of the 2009 growing season, by 6% at the end of the 2010 growing season, and by 10% as the 2010/2011 storm season closes. The objective to achieve this goal is to create and implement a grower self-assessment workbook for alfalfa, walnuts, tomatoes, and winegrapes. The workbook will lead growers of these targeted crops to complete a quick evaluation of the practices they use and determine the risk of runoff containing pesticides of human health concerns entering surface water.


Almond Pest Management Alliance II
Sponsor: Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF)
Principal Investigator: David Runsten
Funding totals: $217,860

The Almond Pest Management Alliance II (Almond PMA II) will continue the positive outcomes of the Almond Pest Management Alliance I (Almond PMA I, 1998–2005). DPR funded the Almond PMA I for five consecutive years to evaluate reduced risk pesticide inputs in California almonds. The Almond Board continued to fund Almond PMA I for its demonstrated success with reducing pesticide inputs in California almonds. The analysis of Pesticide Use Report (PUR) data and a subsequent report by DPR stated that almond growers reduced dormant spray applications by 77% from 1991 to 2000, primarily attributed to the efforts of Almond PMA I. Almond PMA I promoted intensive monitoring protocols and tracked pest populations, damage levels, and economic data over successive years. This consistency demonstrated the long-term economic success of reduced-risk practices.

Since Almond PMA I, pesticide use on almond acreage has increased. The almond industry, California’s top horticultural export with a farm gate value of over $2 billion, encompasses over 755,000 acres in California’s Central Valley and has grown steadily for 15 years. New almond growers need education, experienced growers need reminders, and growers’ Pest Control Advisors (PCAs) continue to make many of the pest control decisions in almonds. Project efforts to change pest management practices will target both growers and PCAs. In addition, new issues such as reducing VOC emissions from pesticides as well as increased concern about run-of/spray drift into waterways require new outreach efforts. With effective education and demonstration, growers and PCAs can manage almond pests by first considering environmentally friendly, lower toxicity materials.


California Grape Alliance
Sponsor: California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance
Principal Investigator: Joe Browde
Funding totals: $183,640

The California grape community (wine, raisin, and table) will partner with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) on a Pest Management Alliance project to protect and improve air and water quality in California by decreasing related risks associated with pesticides used in grape production. The project will constitute the first example of the application and transfer of the Sustainable Winegrowing Program’s proven, self-improvement model to other grape sectors for reducing pesticide-associated risks and improving the sustainability of California agriculture.

The project will include education and outreach about some of the more obvious pests, pesticides, and practices associated with air and water concerns. This includes ensuring that growers and pest control advisors (PCAs) understand which pesticides have been detected in ground and surface water and have greater VOC emission potentials, relevant existing and proposed regulations, and drift mitigation tactics. More holistically, however, the project will ensure that practitioners understand and apply an array of basic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles and practices (characterized in the second edition of the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices Self-Assessment Workbook) pertinent to pesticides and air and water quality that collectively help growers and PCAs make informed decisions that balance cost-effectiveness with human and environmental health.


Urban Pest Ant Management
Sponsor: UC Riverside
Principal Investigator: Michael Rust
Funding totals: $183,488

Pest ants and their control present significant problems in urban environments. A survey of one large pest management company in California indicates that 36% of all customer calls concern ant control, equaling the total for the next three pests (cockroaches, spiders, and bees) combined. Another company reports that 65-80% of their service calls are for ants. Likewise, homeowners apply large quantities of commercially available insecticides to control pest ants. Because of the continuing reliance on the use of insecticidal sprays to control pest ants around structures, there is a growing perception and documentation that these kinds of treatments have resulted in potentially harmful runoff into urban watersheds. Insecticide baits and granules are broadcast over broad areas to suppress species such as Solenopsis invicta but are less successful in controlling sweet-feeding ants such as Argentine ants. The sweet-feeding species generally invade structures resulting in most pesticide applications in non-agricultural sites. The lack of effective commercial containerized ant baits and cost-effective IPM strategies for pest ants has prevented their wide scale adoption. We propose to develop and communicate effective comprehensive IPM programs that specifically target the most common and widespread urban pest ants in California.


For content questions, contact:
Tory Vizenor
1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4015
Sacramento, CA 95812-4015
E-mail: Tory.Vizenor@cdpr.ca.gov