Memorandum

City of Lawrence                             

Parks and Recreation Department         

 

TO:

 Debbie Van Saun, Asst. City Manager

 

FROM:

Mark Hecker, Park Superintendent

CC:

Ernie Shaw, Interim Director

Dave Corliss, City Manger

Date:

07-24-07

RE:

Pesticide Reduction Program – City Parks

 

 

2002 - The city established two pesticide free parks

 

2005 - The City Commission directed the Parks & Recreation Department to implement a pesticide reduction plan in the City’s parks and to select one high-profile park and manage it using a pesticide free management plan.  Buford Watson, Jr. Park was selected for the pilot program.

 

2005 - In addition to Buford Watson, Jr. Park, 33 other lower-profile City parks were classified as pesticide free.  Since this time, we have managed these 34 city parks without the use of pesticides.  An April 20, 2006, memo to the Commission provided an update on the program after approximately one year of operation.

 

2007, June – Consolidated the pesticide use list for 2006 and made it available to the public

 

2007, June - A citizens group requested the City Commission to make all of the remaining parks pesticide-free.

 

The following steps would allow us to move toward our goal of reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides in all parks.

 

1)     2007 – Begin posting pesticide use records on the LPRD website.

 

2)     2007 – Eliminate the use of pesticides in the wood chip areas under all playgrounds and around all picnic shelters in all parks.  While not providing any appreciable cost savings, this effort will allow for these high-traffic areas to be free of pesticides.

 

3)     2007 Fall - Establish a demonstration garden in front of Prairie Park Nature Center. It would show homeowners an example of what can be accomplished using little or no chemicals in a residential landscape setting. We have a local nursery owner and volunteer group interested in taking on this project, as well as maintaining it. 

 

4)     2007 – Fall 2008 - Develop a public education program targeted at neighborhoods directly surrounding Prairie Park. The program would deal with how to achieve residential landscaping using little or no chemicals. The program would benefit homeowners and the adjoining park property. We have a group of local experts interested in taking on and developing this project.  It could also be the start of a  “Green Neighborhood” concept, which could be used with interested neighborhoods citywide.

 

5)      2007 Fall – Apply for a Kansas State University - Integrated Pest Management Mini- Grant. The role of the Kansas State University IPM Program is to facilitate ongoing K-State Research and Extension programs within and between departments/research units.  As part of this role, the University’s IPM program offers a small, competitive grants program, supporting new and existing pest-related research and extension efforts in Kansas. We would hope to use this grant to cover expenses associated with the Lawrence IPM manual development.

 

6)     2007 Fall – Establish a committee of staff and interested community member to begin gathering information and writing the City of Lawrence pesticide reduction manual. This manual will outline IPM strategies and policies that the City will use in the future as we move toward minimizing the uses of chemicals in the parks.  

 

7)     2007 - 2008 – Begin mapping all parks in our system to identify Green Areas verses areas maintained with the use of chemicals (yellow or red areas). Our long range goal would be to continuously reduce the percentage of acres maintained through the use of pesticides. (Performance measure). Areas of individual parks would be converted to Green areas as budget allows.

 

8)     2008 - Closely regulate the products being purchased for future use in the parks. The goal would be to use a higher percentage of green products, reducing the use of more toxic products. We would also attempt to narrow our selected product list. (Example: instead of using 4 or 5 different broadleaf weed control products we would only use 1 or 2 products)

 

9)     2008 – Establish an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) coordinator for the department. This person would research, experiment and document the effectiveness of green products in the park system as a replacement to traditional chemical controls.

(potential budget item)

 

10) 2009-2011 Using IPM research and practices, convert as many park areas to Green as the budget will allow. (potential budget item)