The New York State Community Integrated Pest Management (NYS CIPM) Program at Cornell University is the only one of its kind in the country and addresses pest problems where people live, learn, work, and play-using methods that pose minimal risk to human health and the environment. We help the state's 19 million residents find new alternative ways to manage the pests that damage our landscapes, contaminate our food and living spaces, and pose risks to human health.

New Yorkers demand a safe environment and many communities have mandated restrictions on pesticide use. Yet both pests and the methods used to control them may pose risks. For example, parents want children to be safe from wasps, but the public doesn't want pesticides used in schools. In parks, golf courses, homes, hospitals, office buildings -- wherever we work or learn, live or play -- we face similar issues. Professional pest managers are willing to use lower-risk alternatives-if those IPM methods are proven effective. The research to discover and develop these techniques and the extension to train managers are essential for change to occur. At the same time, teaching our citizens about environmentally friendly, scientifically-sound options for preventing and managing pests helps them make informed decisions that can have a profound and cumulative effect on New York's environmental and economic well-being. These decisions include preventing and managing pest problems at home; selecting a lawn-care service; choosing food products in the grocery store; and forming opinions about farmers in the community.

The Community IPM effort was initiated in the mid-1990s to extend the New York State IPM Program's successful work of minimizing negative effects of pests and pest-control methods on human health and the environment, to non-agricultural settings. Settings include schools, homes, offices, parks and golf courses. Teaching alternative practices that are effective and economically feasible is a major thrust of Community IPM. The extension programming draws from science-based information developed at Cornell and elsewhere. We train school personnel in IPM ways to manage school buildings and grounds, and how to comply with the state's 48-hour pre-notification law. Golf course superintendents, lawn care professionals, landscapers, and structural pest control operators are also being trained. Supporting this effort are research projects that compare golf course management strategies (including traditional, IPM and nonchemical approaches), investigate alternative strategies for managing school grounds, and develop non-toxic ways to handle stinging insect problems. Finally, the general public is the target of efforts to raise general awareness of IPM, and specific IPM practices for the home. To this end, we have produced nine brochures and 22 public service announcements, and provide information on our website.

We created the IPM Workbook for New York schools and distributed it to all 702 public school districts, and trained 3,000 employees from over 250 districts. We helped schools solve specific problems with mice, ants, lice, wasps, and weeds. We provide over 20 IPM training opportunities annually to turfgrass professionals in New York. Our golf course research shows that IPM putting greens can be maintained with 30-66 percent fewer pesticide applications, and up to 85 percent less environmental impact than on conventionally-managed greens. Our brochures, booklets, and PSAs encourage New Yorkers to adopt IPM techniques at home. By learning IPM methods for dealing with ants in their kitchen or grubs in their lawn, citizens can better understand pest management decisions that farmers make to grow the food we eat or that school facilities managers make to protect our children.
Bed bugs are a remerging and significant pest problem in hotels, apartments and houses. Our online bed bug fact sheet was visited 56,000 times in 2006! We created and distributed IPM for Municipal Buildings, a manual and educational CD that guides facilities managers in choosing less-toxic ways to manage pests.
In response to the emergence of West Nile Virus, we created and distributed 31,000 copies of What's all the Buzz about Mosquitoes (in English and Spanish). We created IPM lessons to teach elementary school children, and their families, how IPM is science-based, and can improve and protect their homes and communities.

• Lynn Braband (NYS IPM Program)
• Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann (NYS IPM Program)
• Claudia Coen (NYS IPM Program)
• Gary Couch (NYS IPM Program)
• Debra Marvin (NYS IPM Program)
• Karen English (NYS IPM Program)