Staff Writer

Now that snow has melted off lawns, it’s time to get outside for landscaping and working to turn that grass nice and green. But if you’re laying down pesticides and fertilizers to keep insects at bay and soil nutrient rich, you might want to consider a caution from local lobstermen.

When lobsterman and Kennebunkport Selectman Alan Daggett looks back at the shore to see a patchwork of brownish green, bright green and almost blue lawns, he said it becomes obvious which homeowners use fertilizer on their lawn.

 “I’m not an expert to say what that does to the watershed, but with the chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers it can’t be good. It could go into your wells and it will go down with watershed,” Daggett said, adding he does not want to consider how chemicals affect lobsters, which are distantly related to insects targeted by pesticides. 

In collaboration with local fishermen, lawn care companies and students in Christine Feurt’s introduction to environmental studies course at the University of New England in Biddeford, Kennebunkport had a presentation Wednesday, after The Leader deadline to inform residents of detrimental affects pesticides and fertilizers have on watershed and aquatic life, as well as how to follow the best management guidelines. 

Feurt said students expected to present a PowerPoint slideshow about information they gathered throughout the semester course. 

“It’s a local issue with concerns voiced by lobstermen who are worried about runoff. When it rains on people’s lawns the chemicals wash off and run into the ocean. With the same toxins that kill insects, the concern is the impact on baby lobsters and the affects of over-fertilization,” Feurt said. 

The Friends of Casco Bay in South Portland have expressed similar concerns as Daggett after 17 years of water-quality monitoring in the bay. The group has found evidence of ingredients in pesticides and fertilizers in the watershed at levels that can have a detrimental affect on aquatic life, Associate Director Mary Cerullo said. She said if people do not follow application directions closely or apply too much pesticide or fertilizer to their lawns, the chemicals run off with rainstorms and end up in the ground water. 

Chemicals enter ground water, find a way to streams and rivers then end up in bays and oceans. Cerullo said the chemicals can cause “dead zones.” She said dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico result in low dissolved oxygen levels many organisms cannot survive in. 

“We’re encouraging people to practice better lawn care and minimize the demand for fertilizer and pesticides,” Cerullo said. 

In 1995, Maine Board of Pesticide Control Manager of the Pesticide Program Gary Fish said 800,000 pounds of fertilizer were brought into the state or applied by lawn care companies. He said by 2007 that number had increased to 6.2 million pounds. 

With nearly eight times as much fertilizer being brought into the state, Fish said the increase indicates a trend related to more development and people moving from places where lawn care “is the norm.”

Fish and Cerullo said landscaping with the environment in mind – referred to as “bayscaping” or “yardscaping” – can help reduce dependence on fertilizers and pesticides and the impact on watershed.

Cerullo said the first step is to test the soil to see what, if any, nutrients are needed.

“People will rarely have to add pesticides or fertilizers to their lawn,” Cerullo said. “If they have to, wait and try no to fertilize until late August or early September when it will absorb and not run off.”

Fish said the board encourages people to plant fine or tall fescue grass rather than Kentucky blue grass because it requires less fertilizer and has fewer problems with insects and disease. 

When planting grass, Fish said it is good to over-seed because it leaves less room for weeds to sprout. When mowing the yard it’s best not to cut grass too close to the soil to maintain a higher grass density, also preventing weeds from growing. 

These steps to improving the environmental friendliness of a yard are all part of the “Best Management Practices for the Application of Turf Pesticides and Fertilizers” as outlined by the Maine Board of Pesticide Control, and as recently accepted by the Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen.

Kennebunkport Conservation Commission Chairman Nancy Kling said they have been actively investigating how pesticides and fertilizers affect the coastline, and after Daggett brought to their attention the chemicals were affecting the fishermen’s catches, they recommended the “Best Management Practices” be accepted as a town policy. 

“We didn’t want to set out to ban the use, but let people know there are other ways and if you insist on using chemicals follow the rules,” Kling said. 

Staff writer Emma Bouthillette can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 237.