Green-Blue Summit:
Clean Water through Residential Integrated Pest Management

The “Green-Blue Summit: Clean Water through Residential Integrated Pest Management” on July 18-19, 2007, brought together more than 100 professionals interested in the connections between integrated pest management (IPM) and water quality in turf and structural settings. Presentations focused on water quality risks posed by pest management practices in residential landscapes and structures, and on educating the public to minimizing these risks. Participants from private industry, government, land grant universities, and nonprofit organizations collaborated in workshops to identify key issues and develop strategies for educating consumers. See details of the summit agenda and project ideas that resulted from this event.

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The Northeastern IPM Center launched the Green-Blue Grants Program to promote clean water through residential IPM. Funded projects will focus on teaching about residential integrated pest management and how it affects water quality in the Northeast. The goal of this program is to raise the level of education among northeastern residents by funding specific educational workshops and promotional materials. This program will help strengthen the communication networks in the Northeast and residents’ ability to implement IPM. The deadline for this program has passed, but you can view the Request for Applications in HTML or PDF formats

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Project ideas for the Green-Blue Grants Program should tie to comments and suggestions made by participants in the “Green-Blue Summit,” July 18–19, 2007. See Project Ideas.

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See the AGENDA. Videos of the presentations are being posted here. Some videos have not been posted yet due to sound recording problems. See the agenda and links about the speakers for more info.

Plenary sessions were followed by concurrent workshops on turf and structural pest management issues, as well as an evening social at the internationally renowned Longwood Gardens. Participants found many opportunities to network with individuals of diverse affiliations who share concerns about water quality and the management of pests in residential settings.

Plenary sessions
• Risk management (R. David Jones, Environmental Protection Agency)
• Communicating science to the public (Cliff Scherer, Cornell Univ.)
• Ecological approach to landscaping at the water's edge (Jeff Schloss, Univ. of New Hampshire)
• Learning from the audience: Social science research and social marketing (Brian Eisenhauer, Plymouth State University)
• IPM–water quality success story (Geoff Brosseau, Bay Area Storm Water Management Agencies Association)
• Marketing techniques: Thinking outside of the box (Joe Hice, Univ. of Florida)

Turf workshop focused on the water quality impacts of urban horticulture, including:
• benefits of turf
• homeowner fertilizer and pesticide application practices
• measuring absorption versus runoff
• obtaining good data and using models
Participants will identify areas of agreement, disagreement, and potential compromise, and will work together to create simple messages for educating the public and changing behavior.

Structural workshop was a highly interactive, focusing on the relatively unexplored connections between structural pest management and water quality. Topics will include:
• impact of residential pesticides on wildlife
• residential pesticide residues in water
• homeowner attitudes about pest management
Participants will identify and prioritize research and outreach needs, and will initiate and strengthen coalitions for moving forward.

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Link to the original Green Blue Summit web site by clicking here.

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Our thanks to out to those people who have put in long hours helping to plan this Summit, in particular:

John Butler, Rick Johnson, Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, Don Rivard, Joellen Zeh, Mary Kay Malinoski, Lynn Braband, Marion Gold, Art Gold, Gary Felton, Tom Simpson, Karen Filchak, Frank Rossi, Bruce Augustin, Casey Sclar, Liz Myers, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, Liz Thomas, Amy Galford, and Steve Jacobs.