Pesticide Free Zones
Pine Beach, June 2006
Vista Park in Pine Beach now a pesticide free zone
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on June 18, 2006
By Eddie Hollowell, Staff Writer
PINE BEACH - Children and adults who use Vista Park can breathe easy.
Borough officials have declared the five-acre riverfront park a pesticide-free zone.
"As a matter of policy and practice, we don't use pesticides in the maintenance of Vista Park," Mayor Russell K. Corby said. "We want to protect water quality and public health, especially the health of young children who are more vulnerable to the hazards of pesticides than adults."
A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate a pest, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Contained in many household products, pesticides are useful to society because they can kill potential disease-causing organisms and control insects, weeds and other pests. However, most pesticides create some risk of harm to humans, animals or the environment since they are designed to kill.
Pine Beach is one of a handful of communities statewide - including Brick Township - that have designated pesticide-free zones.
New Jersey uses about 4 million pounds of pesticides annually for lawn care, mosquito control, agricultural production and golf course maintenance, according to Jane Nogaki, program coordinator for New Jersey Environmental Federation, a nonprofit organization that lobbies to protect natural resources and clean up pollution.
Nogaki said many cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternatives exist such as hand pulling weeds, mulching properly to prevent weeds, planting native plants that are not subject to insect problems, and reducing or eliminating lawns to cut the need for watering, fertilizing and mowing.
"We need residents to do their part in reducing pesticides in our environment and keeping our air, water and land safe from toxic chemicals," Nogaki said.
