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The Nature Conservancy in California Press Releases
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Shari Cravens
Phone: (415) 281-0497
E-mail: scravens@tnc.org

Nature Conservancy Receives Award For Innovative Agricultural Practices

California Department of Pesticide Regulation Recognizes Conservancy Leadership in Reducing Pesticides to Improve the Health of the Sacramento River

Chico, Calif.—October 11, 2005—The Nature Conservancy today was recognized by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for its role in pioneering innovative agricultural programs that reduce pesticide use and benefit both growers and wildlife habitat in the Sacramento Valley. The Department’s annual Integrated Pest Management Innovator Award honors organizations that develop and promote alternative agricultural practices which minimize health, environmental and economic risks.

The award recognizes The Nature Conservancy’s 12 years of effort fostering environmentally friendly pest control techniques such as the use of insect growth regulators, pheromones that disrupt the mating cycles of crop pests, cover crops, and weed management without preemergent herbicides. The Conservancy owns 4,000 acres of agricultural land, which it leases to local growers. Nature Conservancy staff and partners utilize the land for research and demonstration projects and, in the process, have eliminated the use of organophospate and pyrethroid insecticides, rodenticides, and preemergent herbicides on most Conservancy properties. The Nature Conservancy’s outreach efforts to walnut and prune growers have also led to the formation of influential industry coalitions such as the Integrated Prune Farming Practices Project, which has significantly reduced pesticide use in prune production systems.

“Developing environmentally-friendly agricultural practices goes hand-in-hand with more traditional conservation activities, such as restoration, since both are crucial to the health of our children, our communities and our economy.” said Dawit Zeleke, director for The Nature Conservancy’s Sacramento River project. “The Nature Conservancy is honored to be an Integrated Pest Management Innovator award recipient, and we look forward to continuing our work with the Sacramento Valley agricultural community.”

Department of Pesticide Regulation Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam said The Nature Conservancy’s work on the Sacramento River Project provides a classic example of sustainability in action. “Through this project, the Conservancy has fostered biodiversity, encouraged reduced-risk pest management, and supported growers in making the transition to least-toxic practices. We commend the Conservancy for its long-term commitment to IPM innovation,” said Warmerdam.

The award was bestowed upon the Conservancy in a ceremony at the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento. More information about the Department of Pesticide Regulation can be found online at www.cdpr.ca.gov. Further information on The Nature Conservancy’s Sacramento River project can be found at nature.org/california.

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The Nature Conservancy’s Sacramento River Project

The Sacramento, California’s largest river, furnishes 35 percent of the state’s total water supply, provides an important corridor for Chinook salmon and a wintering area for many species of migratory waterfowl and songbirds. By the end of the 1980’s only a tiny fraction of the formerly extensive riverside forests remained along the Sacramento, and populations of many species were in steep decline. The Nature Conservancy is leading a broad coalition of individuals and organizations in an effort to preserve both habitat and human uses on 33,000 riverside acres between Red Bluff and Colusa. This ambitious undertaking constitutes the largest riparian planting project in the West. During the past 20 years the Conservancy and its partners have protected 14,500 acres along the river – more than 40 percent of its goal.