Message to Unlicensed Golf Courses from the Ministry of Environment

As of July 1, 2016, all British Columbia golf courses are required to obtain a Pesticide User's Licence in order to legally apply pesticides.  To assist golf courses with the compliance process, Conrad Berube, MOE Officer for Vancouver Island, has provided the following instructions and weblinks.

From: Berube, Conrad ENV:EX [mailto:Conrad.Berube@gov.bc.ca] 
Subject: RE: Unlicensed golf courses?

It just occurred to me that, in case you’ll be contacting any of your members to encourage them to obtain a Pesticide User’s Licence (and the requisite Applicators’ Certificates for staff), there’s a summary of why they need it at:

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/pesticides-and-pest-management/pesticide-use/guidelines/the-rules-have-changed-guide-for-golf-courses-gardens-cemeteries.pdf   

Information on obtaining licences and certification for using pesticides on golf courses is available at:

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/pesticides-pest-management/business-industry/authorization-to-sell-or-use-pesticides

Golf courses need to ensure that a licence is in place prior to the application of any prescribed pesticides.  Golf courses may be able to substitute the use of most pesticides through management practices and Excluded pesticides (which do not require licence or certification to apply).  Information on Excluded pesticides is available at:

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/pesticides-and-pest-management/pesticide-use/guidelines/the_rules_have_changed-schedule2.pdf  

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/pesticides-and-pest-management/pesticide-use/guidelines/the_rules_have_changed-schedule5.pdf   

Editor's note:  Another helpful article can be found at the following link:  http://wcta-online.com/the-wcta/advocacy/1712-turf-manager%E2%80%99s-guide-to-new-ipm-regulations.   FYI, the Ministry has put together a list of non-compliant golf courses and will be following up, several golf courses have already had site visits.  As stated above, they are looking for help from industry associations to encourage completion of the process - the WCTA strongly urges all BC golf courses to take the appropriate steps to obtain a licence before the end of 2017.