Keep green spaces healthy with help from urban pesticides

Healthy urban green spaces contribute to happier and healthier communities – something we need now more than ever while Canadians continue to practice physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many families are taking more walks in their neighbourhoods and as the nice weather arrives, we’ll be spending more time in our yards and gardens. Well-cared-for green spaces help make cities beautiful, encourage biodiversity, and contribute to boosting mental and physical health.

With more time, you might also be considering starting your own vegetable garden to grow food or testing your green thumb out by adding flowers to create your own backyard oasis.

As you experiment, you might find that you’re faced with pest pressures from weeds, insects or diseases. This is not uncommon, in fact farmers are very familiar with this as they manage similar pests in their fields while growing food for Canadians.

One common weed that pops up this time of year across Canada is the dandelion, which can spread quickly – those fluffy balls are actually seeds that blow around and can start 200 new seed-producing weeds. Another example is ragweed. Both plants are more than just a nuisance, they can trigger unpleasant and sometimes uncontrollable allergies for a portion of the population.

Grubs are lawn pests that can be devastating to a lawn as well. They feed on the roots of grass and cause it to turn brown and die. Animals like skunks and birds then pull back the grass to feed on the grubs, causing further damage.

And we can’t forget about what is happening to trees. They can be severely impacted by insects and disease. The emerald ash borer, a wood-boring beetle, has wiped out millions of trees in Canada and left entire neighborhoods devoid of mature trees.

While in your yard, practice integrated pest management – using the right tool for the problem at the right time. The good news is there are tools that help manage all of these pests, whether you need them in your backyard or a farmer needs them on the farm.

Sometimes the tool needed is a pesticide. Urban pesticides – or lawn pesticides – are products that can be safely used to protect public and private green spaces. They come in consumer formulations diluted for use at people’s homes as well as commercial-grade products designed for use by people with specialized training, like those at lawn care companies. Pesticides are also used around the home to sanitize swimming pools, get rid of unwelcome pests like ants and bed bugs and they act as repellents to keep biting pests like mosquitoes at bay.

Before any pesticide can be sold in Canada, it must be approved by Health Canada. Canada’s scientific regulatory process is stringent, world-renowned, and ensures all pesticides that are used here are safe for both people, pets and the environment.

Despite Health Canada’s rigorous approval process for these products, some provinces and municipalities have arbitrarily chosen to enact laws that restrict pesticide use in their jurisdictions. While these bans are based on ideology and not science, be sure to follow your local laws.

You can find tips for how to use pesticides in urban settings safely in our new brochure, Urban pesticides: handy tools for protecting green spaces.

So while you have more time this spring to enjoy walks or a fun family activity in your backyard, stay safe and enjoy the benefits healthy green spaces provide.