Some people and industries still reject that natural pest control programs as being effective. Many people understand words like Natural or Organic but many do not grasp the concepts of IPM. IPM is the perfect middle ground approach and here is why:
In a simplistic overview – IPM started in Agriculture in the 50’s and mostly as a decision tree to evaluate the level of pest, potential crops value losses versus the expense of treating more so than a natural, organic or green initiative. In 1972 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created and one of the many national policies required was to develop IPM. The EPA established PESP in 1994 as a voluntary membership program to encourage IPM as a best management approach as well as to support members with technical information, allow information exchange and provide funding through grant opportunities for research and demonstration projects. Most early members were naturally in the farming category as IPM was most familiar to food producers and processors. The focus progressed as a matter Environmental Health and Safety is to go green using organic and natural practices first.
Todd Hancock representing ELS Landscape as the second landscape company to join PESP in 2005; and began promoting the concepts of Environmental Stewardship regarding the use of safer pest control to community business leaders that manage commercial real estate in Dallas Texas. The green building program was in full swing but most of the focus was on energy conservation and recycling programs. Many people were worried that natural or organic pesticides would not be effective which is where the principles of IPM come into play. The Dallas BOMA organization embraced the concept and facilitated several going green seminars including some regarding Landscape and IPM with speakers from EPA Region 6, Texas A&M and other local experts including Mr. Hancock.
Suggesting to the EPA PESP that managers of high performance buildings and active members or trade organizations would embrace IPM as an important tool for their going green initiatives and in turn they would educate their tenants about green pest management programs. These programs would include the basics of IPM, use cultural and mechanical means to reduce pest pressure while potentially using organic and natural pest control products or least toxic products before resorting to traditional pest control methods. The program is now promoted as Pestwise to give the program a name that will have more identifiable meaning by the public than PESP or Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Todd Hancock collaborated with industry experts, local business leaders in Dallas BOMA, the EPA and BOMI International to develop a pilot training program for Commercial Property Managers. Mr. Hancock represented EPA at the Fed Center Conference July 2008 reviewing the programs progress. May 18th 2008 at the PESP Headquarters in Todd Hancock presented a pilot of “Green Buildings: Practical Guide to Integrated Pest Management Seminar”. The general consensus of the pilot was that IPM much less pest control was not a viable standalone teaching project. Nor should it be it is part, albeit a very important part of a holistic principle of going green. Pest Management as well as other best management principles is not a standalone initiative when deciding to go green or develop a program for a high performance office building.
BOMI International began working on complete redevelopment of their Environmental Health and Safety Course. Todd Hancock participated in the course revision from beginning to end but was only one member of a very large group of professional course development experts at BOMI and their technical consultant. The course covers a wide range of regulatory compliance issues that mangers face during commercial real estate operations. IPM is a very small part of this course and is only included as it helps meet the goals of the course which is making managers aware of the multitude of concerns as well as best management practices and various resources at their disposal. The New Course book is rolling out this month. For more information visit BOMI International
There likely will be other aspects presented in more detail in other BOMI course offerings as appropriate. The Building Design Operations and Maintenance II text has a chapter regarding pest management and reviews core aspects of IPM. The material is still very relevant and in another example how BOMI’s educational materials.
