Project Overview

The IPM Institute of North America, Inc., an environmental non-profit that advances sustainability in agriculture and communities through market-mechanisms based in IPM, respectfully requests support in the amount of $19,443 over one year from the North Central Integrated Pest Management Center (NCIPM) to expand the reach of the Midwest Grows Green (MGG) Lawn & Land Forum and its newest resource LawnandLand.org. This Lawn & Land Forum protects land, water, wildlife and people by fostering peer-to-peer learning of best IPM, natural lawn care (NLC) and sustainable landscaping practices, policies and practices at park districts, school districts and local governments in the Midwest and nationwide. After establishing itself as a go-to hub of sustainable landscaping information for more than 300 large landscape managers in 2020, the MGG Lawn and Land Forum wants to scale its successes in the Midwest by achieving the following three measurable objectives: (1) adding at least five case studies of IPM implementation on urban landscapes to LawnandLand.org,  (2) disseminating LawnandLand.org by organizing three educational or training webinars during MGG Week from March 22^nd through 26^th, 2021 and (3) increasing the action-oriented components of MGG by holding a minimum of 10 in-person or phone meetings with Forum participating park districts, school districts and/or city governments regarding the implementation of IPM or NLC and onboarding at least two local authorities to MGG’s natural lawn care technical assistance program (see bit.ly/MGGassisstance). Representatives from the University of Wisconsin (UW), University of Illinois Extension, University of Missouri, IL-IN Sea Grant and more will participate in this Working Group by planning or presenting at sessions, participating in working group calls and reviewing Forum resources.