Special Application of Herbicides to Control Invasive Plants on Public Lands

From the recent Illinois Pesticide Review Newsletter:

CH. I. Section 250, Subchapter i; effective January 1, 2011

The Illinois Code has been modified to allow volunteers to apply herbicides to control invasive plants on public land without the need for pesticide licensing, though there are some conditions.

First, the volunteers must be at least 18 years old and need to receive at least an hour's worth of training. This training must include a review of the herbicide product or products' label(s) that will be used, what it can/cannot be used on, application rates, application methods, first aid, potential environmental hazards, personal protective equipment, and any other information deemed appropriate by the trainer.

Second, the trainer must have a valid Rights-of-Way applicators license issued by the IL Dept. of Agriculture (IDA), and be a compensated employee of the organization that has direct control of the public lands.
Products must carry the signal word "CAUTION" and not be classified as restricted-use.

Only licensed applicators, including the trainer, can mix and load the product into the application devices. In other words, volunteers are given the application device (sprayers, wands) with the herbicide ready to apply.
Trainers are also required to immediately provide to the IDA a list including name, address, telephone number, and birth date of all individuals who received the training, as well as the sponsoring organization. On top of that, the trainer shall provide IDA the date, location, trainer's name, address, telephone number, pesticide applicator license number and expiration date, trainer's organization and legible copy of the herbicide product label(s) used in the training session.

Trainees will receive a certificate from the IDA, which then allows them to 1) apply those specific products used in the training only on 2) lands identified in the training, and 3) in the calendar year of the training.
If there are ways that we at the Pesticide Safety Education Program can assist with your training needs, please contact Michelle Wiesbrook at buesinge@uiuc.edu or 217-244-4397.

(Submitted by David Robson. This information was distributed by IDA at a recent Interagency Committee on Pesticides meeting.)