Source: www.TurfMagazine.com
HAMDEN, Conn. – This week, RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) teamed up with Lyme Connection, a community-based organization offering tick-borne disease prevention programming, to talk with residents in Connecticut about creating a safe, pest-free outdoor environment at Plant Science Day. The free, public event, hosted by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) at Lockwood Farm in Hamden, Connecticut, supports awareness around the importance of maintaining healthy outdoor spaces. RISE and Lyme Connection handed out educational materials, including a flier about the importance of safely eradicating unwanted insects and plants such as ticks, mosquitoes and poison ivy. Team members taught visitors how to identify these pests as the first defense against Lyme disease and West Nile virus and spoke to them about choosing the right product for the problem, and using it correctly by reading and following all label instructions. In addition, RISE handed out a poster with the latest information on identifying common invasive species found in the Northeastern United States. For the youngsters in attendance, RISE shared a children’s book titled “What’s Bugging You?” by Raymond Bial that teaches kids about identifying common pests around their homes.