In late March, Hermann Park announced a plan to transition to organic lawn and garden maintenance.  The first areas in the Park to make this transition will be the McGovern Centennial Gardens and the Molly Ann Smith Plaza. Reportedly this will be the first Houston public park to undertake an organic approach rather than utilizing customary pesticide treatments. 

This change was inspired by the Non-Toxic Neighborhoods movement, which got its start in southern California. There was growing concern there for the health impacts on children from pesticide use in the maintenance of public parks and playgrounds.  A former Houston resident, Kim Konte, who moved to Irvine in southern California, was a leader of this effort.  Concerned for the health of her children who played a lot of little league ball, she became one of the founders of Non Toxic Irvine, which convinced the city to adopt an organic-first policy for landscaping (article link below).  This policy soon spread to other California communities and beyond. 

This switch to an organic approach in public parks will also be a benefit to native plants, insects, and wildlife, and will reduce pesticide runoff into nearby streams and waterways.  Hermann Park will also be expanding its on-site composting program, so that the Park overall will become more sustainable.

Links to related articles;

Chronicle article on Organic Lawn Maintenance at Hermann Park:
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bellaire/news/article/Organic-lawn-maintenance-planned-for-parts-of-13727177.php

Website for Non Toxic Neighborhoods:
http://www.nontoxicirvine.org/

Irvine Little League mom leads charge to wipe out pesticides on ball fields nationwide:
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/24/irvine-group-working-to-get-pesticides-off-city-baseball-fields-nationwide/

Playfree, Stonfyfield Organic's mission to promote organic playing fields:
https://www.stonyfield.com/playfree

Health effects of pesticides:
https://www.stonyfield.com/playfree/health-effects-of-pesticides  

Submitted by Frank Blake, frankblake@juno.com