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Non-Agricultural Partnerships
Many of our public-private partnerships are between EPA and organizations from sectors outside of agriculture. Pests, such as insects and rodents, can be a nuisance or a threat to businesses, schools, and homeowners. EPA's public-private partnerships have been integral to developing and testing integrated pest management (IPM) solutions to common pest problems, and to getting the word out so that more people will practice safer pest control.
Under the Pesticide Environmental
Stewardship Program, Federal, state, and local agencies also are partnering
with EPA to develop solutions to tough pest problems. For example, the
Department of Defense's Armed Forces Pest Management Board has been especially
successful in innovating safer practices for controlling pests in such
diverse settings as food preparation, storage, shipping, military bases,
training grounds, and even golf courses. Through its partnership with
EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, IPM has been implemented on
all Department of Defense facilities. The Department of Defense has demonstrated
alternative control methods, such as heat and hot water in place of fumigants
and pesticidal sprays, trapping instead of pesticide use, and biocontrol
for fire ants, deer ticks, and mosquitoes. For more information
on the Department of Defense's projects, please access their Pesticide
Environmental Stewardship Program strategy and Department
of Defense's Armed Forces Pest Management Board Web site. 
IPM can be used in residential and other forms of
structural pest control.
For example, IPM is helping to protect homes from termites and fire ants
while reducing pesticide risk for the families who live in these homes.
An important partner to EPA in developing and evaluating IPM practices
for structural applications is the National
Pest Management Association.
Schools -- especially in inner cities where roaches and rodents thrive -- need pest control programs. The challenge always has been to control such pests without putting kids at risk from toxic pesticides. Across the country, school districts are beginning to implement IPM in schools to protect their students from both pests and pesticides. Two school districts that partnered with EPA's Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program and paved the way for national implementation are the Monroe County School Corporation in Bloomington, Indiana, and the New York City Board of Education. Visit EPA's Pesticides in Schools Program for more information.