Goodbye pesticides, hello paperwork

Golf courses in Ontario, Canada, may still use pesticides on playing surfaces if they follow stringent regulations set by the province. Photo courtesy of RCGA/Canadian Golf Hall of Fame Archives

Teresa Carson

On April 22, Earth Day, Regulation 63/09 came into force in Ontario, Canada. The regulation bans the sale of more than 250 pesticide products and prohibits the use of more than 80 pesticide ingredients for cosmetic purposes.

Under the law, if certain conditions are met, golf courses may use some pesticides. The regulations in Ontario are much more severe than those in Quebec, which phased in its pesticide restrictions from 2003 to 2006.

According to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, pesticides may be used on “playing surfaces . . . including tees, fairways, greens and rough.” Each golf course that uses pesticides also must receive Integrated Pest Management accreditation from an approved accreditation body. The “owner or operator of a golf course” is responsible for making sure the golf course is accredited, and, for the purposes of the regulations, the owner or operator is “a person who is responsible for managing or supervising the golf course and includes a golf course superintendent or manager.”

Beginning in 2010, the owner or operator of each course must also prepare an annual report documenting “the name of each pesticide ingredient in the pesticides used,” the reasons for using the pesticides and the quantity of pesticide used in kilograms. The report must also include a map of the course showing where pesticides were applied, how IPM accreditation has decreased pesticide use and will decrease pesticide use in the year the report is being prepared.

Teri Yamada, the interim executive director of the Integrated Pest Management-Plant Health Care Council of Canada and principal of TY Environmental Strategies Ltd., says more than 800 courses in Ontario are affected by the province’s requirement that every golf course have an IPM agent. Usually the agent is the superintendent, assistant superintendent or owner. Yamada says that the IPM agent need not be a licensed sprayer but is the person responsible for both the desk and on-site audit, which include daily scouting reports and records of weather conditions, sprayer calibration and pesticide use.

IPM agents must pass an exam and receive eight continuing education credits per year from seminars qualified by the IPM-PHC (Plant Health Care) Council of Canada. If an agent fails to complete the credits, he can retake the exam.

A course that uses restricted pesticides must give a free copy of its IPM report to anyone who asks for it during the five-year period after the report is issued. Starting in 2012, at least 15 days before the report is available for inspection, the course must notify neighbors within 100 meters and publish a notice in the local newspaper about the report’s availability. A course representative must be available to present the report.

The government is allowing golf courses one year to get in compliance with the regulations and until 2012 to become fully accredited. In 2009, those who intend to become IPM agents will study for and take the exam, and golf courses will register in the IPM accreditation program and begin documenting pesticide use. The first annual pesticide reports, as required by the regulation, will be prepared using data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010, and finalized by June 30, 2011.

By 2011 reports from golf courses will be made available to the public on the IPM-PHC Council Web site, but the council hopes to launch the Web site (www.ipmphccanada.org) in 2009. For more information, contact Teri Yamada (tyamada@ipmphccanada.org).

Teresa Carson is GCM’s science editor.