by Tyler J. Koschnick, University of Florida/IFAS
Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants
Every year hundreds of people from the United States and abroad who are involved with aquatic and invasive plant management converge on south Florida to attend the Aquatic Weed Control Short Course.
The four-day Short Course is one of the largest Extension programs sponsored by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).
This year over 460 aquatic and invasive plant managers participated to improve their job performance and personal safety and to minimize environmental impacts including damage to non-target species. Florida likely has the largest aquatic plant management program in the world, spending more than $70 million annually. The state encourages the integration of biological, chemical, and mechanical methods to remove unwanted aquatic and invasive plants.
Under U.S. federal and state laws, applicators of pesticides classified as restricted use (RU) must be trained and certified in general knowledge of proper pesticide use and safety (referred to as core requirements) and in their respective area of work (aquatic; natural areas; turf and ornamental; etc.) Though no currently registered aquatic herbicides are classified as restricted use in Florida, most employers and public agencies insist that their applicators be trained and certified to improve personal safety and application expertise.
The Aquatic Weed Control Short Course is designed primarily to provide the necessary training to certify people in natural area and aquatic weed control categories. The course also is designed to offer continuing education units (CEUs) to those already certified and licensed in aquatic plant management categories. Licenses must be renewed every four years with a required amount of CEUs in each category.
This year’s courses included equipment calibration, aquatic and natural areas weed control, core examination standards, reading and interpreting a pesticide label, basic weed science, selective weed management, plant identification, weed ecology, and state and federal rules and regulations.
Presentations also were given on general safety issues for people working in the field. These included identification of venomous snakes by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and information on heat stroke, exhaustion and dehydration by the University of Florida Health Sciences Department.
Reviewed subjects included pesticide safety, Lygodium management, ditch bank and upland weed control, biological control of Melaleuca, the herbicide registration process, mosquitoes and their relationship to aquatic plant control, as well as updates on active ingredients found in herbicides.
The training course concluded with a field day offering airboat safety training and field equipment calibration, and an equipment demonstration with a variety of all-terrain vehicles, herbicide spray rigs, granular blowers, mowers, and tractors. For a photographic tour of the short course, visit http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/aw/photos.htm
Exams were offered on the last day, and approximately 160 people were tested on core requirements or one of the specialized categories.
The University of Florida is one of the only institutions in the country that offers a Short Course specific to aquatic plant management. The University of Florida’s IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants is dedicated to research, Extension, and education as it pertains to invasive plant management on a local, state, national and international level.
With thousands of certified aquatic pesticide applicators in Florida, we anticipate another successful course in 2005. Every year, a contingent from other countries arrives to learn about management practices for aquatic invasive plants in the United States. We welcome and encourage attendance from those abroad.
Land-grant universities were established by Congress and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 with the purpose of educating citizens in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other practical professions. At that time, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population lived in rural areas, and 30 percent of the workforce was engaged in farming. Land grant institutions received funding and/or grants of land.
There are more than 100 land-grant colleges and universities in the U.S. that help meet public needs by providing practical, applied, non-credit programs called Extension Programs. These programs are provided through thousands of county and regional extension offices to bring land-grant expertise to local levels. Extension was formalized by legislation in 1914 and established the partnership between land-grant institutions and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Extension was defined as “developing practical applications of research knowledge, and giving instruction and practical demonstrations of existing or improved practices or technologies in agriculture.”
During both World Wars and the Great Depression, land-grant institutions and the Extension Service played dramatic roles in the increase of food production, improvements in marketing and preservation of fresh foods, development of buying and selling cooperatives, and the teaching of home economics including nutrition, canning surplus foods, home gardening and poultry production, skills that helped many farm families survive the years of economic depression.
Today, fewer than 2 percent of Americans farm for a living and only 10 percent live in rural areas. Yet the USDA Cooperative Extension Service, together with land-grant universities and colleges, still serves rural, urban, and suburban citizens by teaching agricultural, natural resource, family and community skills at the local level, including aquatic plant management!
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