Tools for Reducing Pesticide Use In and Around Your Homes

PUBLIC MEETING: APRIL 20, 6 - 8 P.M.
Location: Eugene Public Library (100 W. 10th Ave.)
Room: Bascom-Tykeson Room (1st Floor)
Parking: Do NOT park in the library parking garage. It locks up at 8 p.m. Instead, park in either the Broadway North Parking Garage (8th Alley and Charnleton) or Broadway South Parking Garage (W. Broadway Alley and Charnelton). Both are only 1-2 blocks away from the library.

As spring ushers in longer days, many folks will be out planting gardens and tidying up their lawns and spaces around their homes. The warmer weather can also bring unwanted pests, and every year, an array of pesticides are used to control weeds and invasive plants, insects, rodents, and other wildlife. These chemicals can have harmful impacts on water quality, native plants and wildlife, and on the drinking water of our downstream neighbors in Monroe.

Our April 20th public meeting will focus on providing tips, tools, and resources to understand the latest pesticide data and trends, and how you can reduce your pesticide use. The event will be at the Bascomb-Tykeson room of the Eugene Public Library (see next page for details, including parking).

For 13 years, LTWC and partners have been monitoring pesticide presence in Amazon Creek as one of Oregon’s Pesticide Stewardship Partnerships (PSPs). David Gruen, Columbia River Coordinator at the Oregon DEQ, will share an overview and history of the PSP Program, and why it’s a priority for the State of Oregon. He’ll also help contextualize why we should be concerned about pesticides in our water and their impacts on water quality and aquatic communities, and how the impacts of pesticides are measured through aquatic benchmarks. Amanda Reinholtz, LTWC’s River Scientist & GIS Specialist, will then share the latest results from pesticide monitoring data in Amazon Creek, the context of those results, and some actions people can take to reduce particular chemical detections of concern. Our final speaker, Chris Hedstrom, will present a new online resource from Oregon State University called “Solve Pest Problems”. Chris is the Communications & Outreach Coordinator for OSU’s Integrated Pest Management Center will walk attendees through how to use the site and discuss the content in the context of what we can be
doing to reduce pesticide inputs into our waterways.

Urban areas are incredibly complex with toxic inputs coming from myriad sources. While there have been encouraging signs in recent years that improvements have been made, consistent and continued incremental improvements depend upon an informed community willing to take the voluntary steps necessary to invest in the health of our watershed. Please join us on April 20th to learn more about how you can do your part!

For additional information contact: Rob Hoshaw at the Long Tom Watershed Council, 11 E 277th Avenue, Eugene OR 97405 541-654-8965 Ext 101.