Rural action awarded for pesticide reduction

by Yosuke Takanashi
For The Post

During the past couple of years, Rural Action has worked to implement baits and traps in schools to eliminate pests. The Ohio Citizen Action recognized the Athens County organization with a blue ribbon award for its efforts.

The nonprofit group, which works to promote a variety of issues facing Ohioans, including environmental issues, awarded farmers and organizations that reduced pesticide use and that are good models to encourage others on reducing pesticide use, said Jane Forrest Redfern, environmental projects director of Ohio Citizen Action.

“Rural Action got the Education and Action blue ribbon,” she said. “Over the years, they reduced pesticides and developed new techniques to deal with pests, so they are a good model to encourage other people to do the same.”

This is the first year the Ohio Citizen Action and Innovative Farmers of Ohio gave the reducing pesticide use award. The groups presented the awards to 18 organizations, including Rural Action.

“We wanted people to recognize (winners) in order to educate them about how they can also reduce pesticides,” Redfern said.

Heather Cantino, coordinator of the Rural Action Safe Pest Control Program, said she educated maintenance workers, administrators, principals and teachers in more than 20 districts in Southeast Ohio on how they can reduce pesticide use in schools.

Cantino said she started working to reduce pesticide use in 1991 because she was concerned about pesticides used in schools.

She prepared materials for schools such as checklists for clean kitchens and a video on how to reduce pesticides through use of baits and traps instead of sprays, Cantino said.

“If you have to use pesticide, you use safe formulations,” she said. The Rural Action program stresses the use of baits because the pesticides do not escape into the air.

Federal Hocking Local School District has participated in the program since 2000. Leroy Guess, maintenance supervisor for Federal Hocking, said school officials use baits and traps to catch pests instead of sprays.

But changing tools for eliminating pests was difficult because baits and traps do not have immediate results, he said.

“Once it started, it worked pretty good,” Guess said.

But not all of Cantino’s efforts were successful.

“Some districts just didn’t want to be bothered,” Cantino said. “They said what they were doing was legal, so it must be safe. I know legal doesn’t make it safe.”