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NOFA Organic Lawn & Turf Course - Municipal Scholarships

Project Details

Year: 2008 & 2009
Location: Marblehead
Project Manager: Kathy Litchfield, The Organic Land Care Program of Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) - Massachusetts Chapter, Barre, MA
Partners: GreenCAPE

During the first year of TURI funding, six Massachusetts municipal employees were offered scholarships to attend the NOFA Organic Lawn & Turf Course - August 14, 2007 in Marblehead. During the second year of TURI funding, an additional five municipal employees were offered scholarships to attend the NOFA course held on August 18, 2008 at UMass Dartmouth. Attendees at each course learned how to reduce the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides in the management of public parks and athletic fields. The scholarship recipients will become spokespeople for organic lawn care to encourage other municipal employees to learn more and take the course in future years.

The Project Manager Kathy Litchfield reports: "It was a wonderful way to talk to municipal staff about our program, and the importance of reducing pesticides on public properties, in order to protect waterways and children and pets from the hazards associated with synthetic pesticides."

The municipalities that benefited from the scholarships were: Salem, Danvers, Townsend, Barnstable, Chatham, Sandwich, Carlisle, Cohasset, Pepperell, Townsend, Stoneham, and Ayer.

You can learn more about NOFA and their events at:  www.organiclandcare.net .

Check out photos of the NOFA project from the TURI 2008 Champions of Toxics Use Reduction ceremony  here .

We are excited to be continuing the work with NOFA during fiscal year 2010 as Stoneham and Ayer create organic lawn demonstration sites under current TURI funding.



This page updated Wednesday November 02 2011