February 4, 2008
Green pest control honored
sdickman@rochester.edu
If orange soda is the safest and fastest way to
collect live yellowjackets, Senior Sanitarian Peter Castronovo will use it.
That’s how his Pest Control Unit has been
drawing the wasps away from patrons at the Memorial Art Gallery’s
Clothesline Festival for years—one of his many strategies for
using the least toxic approach to controlling pests around the University.
To recognize his success at reducing the use of
pesticides, Castronovo will receive the 2007 Excellence in IPM Award next
month from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program, based
in Geneva, N.Y. One of five award recipients, Castronovo is the only winner
working in a nonagricultural environment.
“Through his efforts, Peter and his staff have
reduced the University’s annual usage of 400 gallons of liquid
pesticides in 1994 to our current annual usage of less than 10
gallons,” said Mark Cavanaugh, director of Environmental Health and
Safety at the University.
In addition to being a leader in safe, effective pest
management, Castronovo is recognized for his work on committees for the
state’s IPM program through Cornell University. IPM fosters
research and extension services, said Jennifer Grant, assistant director of
the program, with a focus on “fewer pesticides, safer pesticides, and
alternatives to pesticides.”
Castronovo points out that pest management is about 30
percent of his job, with food and drinking water safety some of his other
responsibilities. “Without cooperation and understanding among the
various departments, our effectiveness really couldn’t happen,”
he said. “When there’s a problem, we try to go in with paper
and pencil instead of spray to document and educate how they can help
themselves.”
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