Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: native plants, ornamentals

• Agronomic: clovers, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), grass (turfgrass, sod)

• Animals: bees

• Community and Urban Pest Management: commercial, hospitals/healthcare, institution/shelters/municipal buildings/public places, other, public health, residential/housing, school & child care

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem, other

• Human Health: other, workers, residents, applicators

• Natural Areas: forestry (conifer), forestry (hardwood), other, wildlife

• Pollinators: habitat, honey bees, other

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: behavioral control, biological control, biorational pesticides, botanical pesticides, compost extracts, cultural control, decision support system, economic threshold, habitat modification, mechanical control, monitoring/scouting, mulches - general, mulches - killed, mulches - living, mulching - plastic, mulching - vegetative, prevention, soil solarization, weather monitoring, weed ecology

• Crop Production: drought tolerance, fertilizers, nurseries, nutrient management, organic fertilizers, pollination/pollinator health/habitat, water management

• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, drift/runoff buffers, grass waterways, indicators, soil stabilization, wetlands, wildlife

• Production Systems: transitioning to organic

• Soil Management: composting, earthworms, green manures, organic matter, other, soil microbiology, soil quality/health

• Sustainable Communities: other, public participation, public policy, quality of life, sustainability measures

The IPM Institute of North America, Inc. requests $25,958 from the North Central IPM Center to meet the rising demand for sustainable landscaping in the North Central region.  

The Midwest Grows Green (MGG) Lawn & Land Forum Working Group will meet sustainable landscaping demand by pursuing three objectives in 2024-2025: (1) improve identification of sustainable landscapes and landscaping services in the North Central region and nationally, (2) organize workshops and develop resources that equip landscape managers with the knowledge base to adopt and implement sustainable landscaping practices, policies and strategies and (3) increase sustainable landscaping adoption and implementation in the North Central Region.

For the first objective, the WG will organize quarterly meetings to review, revise and promote Green Shield Certified (GSC) for Landscapes that recognizes and supports practitioners that reduce chemical use, satisfy community needs and remain economically feasible  (bit.ly/GSClandscapes). The IPM Institute will disseminate GSC for Landscapes standards to organizations and stakeholders outside the WG membership for review and endorsement.  Throughout 2024-2025, these GSC standards will receive sufficient endorsements and new applicants to recognize it as the premium sustainable landscaping standard across the US. 

The WG’s second objective will organize and host two webinars and two in-person workshops to equip landscape managers with the knowledge base to adopt and implement sustainable landscaping practices, policies and strategies. The webinars will focus on the NCIPMC’s Stakeholder Priority of “Rapidly identifying and managing invasive re-emerging, or resistant insect pests, pathogens and weeds to minimize their impacts” by covering how to effectively manage emerging weeds of phragmites, Japanese knotweed and lesser celandine with limited synthetic pesticides. The WG will post the webinar recordings and lessons learned on LawnandLand.org’s Pest & Weed Control page (bit.ly/MGGcontrol) and create one or two NCIPMC Pest Alert fact sheets for the weeds covered.   

Starting on March 19^th, 2024, the Forum will host two consecutive in-person workshops. The first workshop will focus on natural lawn care management for sports and recreational fields and include a site tour of the pesticide-free Ray Elementary schoolyard in Chicago, IL’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The Forum will organize the second workshop at Gillson Park in Wilmette, IL and share the natural resource management techniques MGG and Forum collaborators will use to control the invasive lesser celandine weed at Gillson Park.

Finally, the WG will increase sustainable landscaping adoption through the following activities of (1) holding a minimum of 10 in-person or phone meetings with park districts, school districts and/or city governments regarding sustainable landscaping implementation, (2) assisting 10 or more greenspaces in the North Central region with transitioning away from synthetic pesticide and fertilizer use through MGG’s Technical Assistance Program (bit.ly/MGGassistance) and (3) leveraging this project’s successes to grow LawnandLand.org, GSC for Landscapes and the Technical Assistance Program.

This effort will help all North Central residents and communities easily find, implement and pursue landscaping services and projects that have limited impact on human health and the environment. Overall, this project will increase safe and healthy greenspaces for children, pets and pollinators to live, learn and play. 

Objective 1: The Lawn & Land Forum WG will improve identification of sustainable landscapes and landscaping services in the North Central region by certifying practitioners who employ these strategies and approaches.

Objective 2: The Lawn & Land Forum WG will organize workshops and develop resources that equip landscape managers with the knowledge base to adopt and implement sustainable landscaping practices, policies and strategies. 

Objective 3: The Lawn & Land Forum WG and MGG will increase sustainable landscaping adoption and implementation in the North Central Region.