Community Engagement
Managing community expectations during the transition to natural lawn care requires targeted and structured outreach and education.
For many communities, the practices and policies covered in this Toolkit will not produce perfect results overnight. It’s critical for turf managers and authorities to invest the time and money into managing community expectations and educating the community during these changes. Community engagement for natural and proper lawn care requires determination, vigilance and, most importantly, patience. MGG’s Activist Toolkit covers many strategies to advance natural lawn care in your community and ensure pesticide reduction occurs in the long term. The Forum recommends community engagement strategies of creating IPM/NLC committees, developing marketing collateral and leveraging partnerships.
IPM/NLC Committees
A policy is only as strong as the individuals working (or not working) to implement it. Many municipalities, park districts and schools have developed committees, task forces or working groups of devoted stakeholders to ensure the implementation and dissemination of their IPM/NLC programs.
The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation (MPR) Department established a Pesticide Advisory Committee (PAC) following a decision to set a moratorium on the use of glyphosate on all 6,800 acres of parks, trails and open spaces. Between December 2018 and April 2019, the PAC met at least nine times to research and compile data on alternatives to glyphosate that was eventually shared with the MPR Park Board on April 4, 2019.
Since the PAC consisted of practitioners and experts appointed by both city commissioners and the MPR staff, not everyone agreed on the scale that the City should phase out pesticides. Despite these differences in opinion, PAC member and owner of Minnehaha Falls Landscaping Russ Henry sees promise in the PAC’s mission and work. Henry explained, “Every time we’ve had 30 to 40 people show up for a long and boring park board meeting to discuss pesticide reduction.”
The PAC divided work for the April 4th report into four subcommittees of Golf/Athletic Fields, Natural Areas, Wetlands & Gardens. Each subcommittee made their unique recommendations based on research, meetings and interviews with other communities that enacted a moratorium on glyphosate or a similar policy. For example, the Golf/Athletic Fields subcommittee recommended substituting glyphosate used in the infield or around tree rings with either less management, manual removal, steam or vinegar.
The committee continues to meet 12 times per year to ensure implementation of the report’s recommendations and to share natural lawn care success stories in Minneapolis. Henry believes meeting regularly ensures continual improvement, “If we can successfully eliminate pesticides in any area, we will always be positioned to be an incredible beacon for how that can be done.”
All Minneapolis PAC recommendations can be found online: Gardens Subcommittee, Natural Areas and Wetlands Subcommittees and Golf Subcommittee.
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Marketing Collateral
Most new policies should expect some pushback or uncertainty from the community. The IPM Institute’s Midwest Grows Green initiative has already created the marketing and educational collateral to inform residents of what to expect during the transition to natural lawn care and how to incorporate the approach to their own lawns.
“We share natural lawn care information at three critical areas where lawns influence our lives: our parks, our retailers and our homes,” said IPM Institute’s Community IPM Outreach Specialist, Ryan Anderson.
At parks, the Pesticide-Free Parks program develops interpretive signage, posters, press releases and more to elaborate on the practices applied at the parks and how residents can adopt NLC at home. At retailers, the Point-of-Purchase program assists hardware stores, garden centers and other lawn care suppliers with eco-labeling natural pesticides, organic fertilizers and other NLC tools. Finally, at home, the Community Engagement program shares actionable NLC tips through communication materials, interactive events and its MGG pledge.
“Thanks to MGG materials, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to engage community members in NLC and manage their expectations during the transition,” Ryan said.
Contact Ryan Anderson or Midwest Grows Green at randerson@ipminsitute.org or 773-878-8245.
Photo Gallery
Front side of poster that MGG and Chicago Park District print and share at most parks and community centers across the city. The messaging of this poster to “embrace dandelions” to protect children, pets and pollinators has proved to resonate with residents. CPD has reported significant reduction in complaints thanks to this campaign.
Backside of the Chicago Park District Dandelion Campaign poster
Retailers such as hardware stores can easily place the MGG eco-labels for the Point-of-Purchase program in standard metal shelves.
MGG designed poster and full page advertisement used by Lisle Park District to introduce their organic parks to the community.
Signage designed by MGG and used at all four Lisle Park District Organic Parks.
First page of printed MGG Brochures that cover simple steps homeowners can take on their lawns to protect waterways, children and pollinators.
Second page of MGG Brochure.
MGG signage and banner displayed at Park Ridge Park District’s Maine Park, MGG’s first Pesticide-Free park.
The MGG Point-of-Purchase program provides each retailer with a free guide and catalog that goes through all lawn and garden products approved for the eco-friendly label.
Leveraging Partnerships
Pesticides cross into many environmental and social issues due to its high and diverse use. This ubiquitous use means that efforts to reduce pesticides can align with the missions and work of many different local grassroots organizations, non-profits and advocates.
These institutions frequently partner with park districts, municipalities, schools and universities to engage and educate the community about sustainable landscaping.
“Solving problems is what people want and that’s what non-profits can bring to them, whether it’s water issues, poor soils, more wildlife, tree issues, invasive species or more,” said Jim Kleinwachter, The Conservation Foundation’s Conservation@Home Program Director.
Conservation@Home exemplifies the potential to develop and market sustainable landscapes at a large scale. Eight different governmental and non-profit organizations have collaborated to certify more than 3,000 Conservation@Home properties across Illinois,
Wisconsin and Indiana. Conservation@Home has helped an additional 200 non-residential sites receive certification by planting native prairies, meadows, wetlands and more.
“Having people visualize what these things could look like and how they might implement them in their yard is what we sell,” Kleinwachter explained. “We need park districts, businesses and individual homeowners to show these concepts in a positive manner.”
Conservation@Home and other non-profit programs including Midwest Grows Green's (MGG) Technical Assistance Program and Herbicide-Free Campus (HFC) have formed strong partnerships with landscape managers to implement and share best sustainable landscaping management practices. HFC supports students and campaigns working to reduce or eliminate herbicides for 21 college campuses.
“It’s really important for HFC to engage with landscape managers, so we’re working on this together and coming up with the solutions together,” said Mackenzie Feldman, Executive Director and Founder of HFC.
To improve relations between student activists and facility managers, HFC recently developed a paid 10-month fellowship program for students that coaches them how to collaborate with university facility management staff, secure funding for pesticide reduction projects and engage the campus community about sustainable landscaping.
