A rebellion against lawn pesticides may be sprouting on the Maine coast.

Four coastal communities have adopted an ordinance or a policy to ban the spraying of pesticides on town-owned parks, playing fields and other public lands. First came Brunswick in 2006, then Castine last summer, followed by Camden in April and Rockport last month.

And, if folks like Patrisha McLean have their wish, it’s just the beginning.

“Our goal is to join up all the coastal towns,” said McLean, a leader of Citizens for a Green Camden. “I think there’s an awareness (on the coast) … We’ve already had calls from people in Lincolnville and Rockland.”

The town bans effectively require their parks and recreation departments to go organic, usually with some exceptions such as roadway medians or school-owned properties.

The Camden policy, which was modeled after Castine’s and copied by Rockport, says: “All pesticides are toxic to some degree and the widespread use of pesticides is both a major environmental problem and a public health issue. … All citizens, particularly children, have a right to protection from exposure to hazardous chemicals and pesticides.”

In Castine, the pesticide policy grew out of concerns about cancer rates in the small town. In Camden, it was a more general response.

“Some people in town got together who were concerned about all the little pesticide notification signs that pop up every spring,” McLean said.

More than 20 Maine communities from all over the state have some form of local pesticide-use ordinances, said Gary Fish, manager of pesticide programs for Maine Board of Pesticides Control. Most go back many years and are aimed at protecting certain aquifers or waterways.

The more recent trend of banning lawn pesticides from parks, playgrounds and other lands is much more widespread in Canada, and still hit or miss here, Fish said.

The Maine pesticides board adopted a rule in 2004 requiring Maine school districts to spray only as a last resort. Giving up pesticides cold turkey – especially when trying to maintain athletic fields – is not easy for towns and schools and can take some re-education, according to Fish.

Some communities, such as Marblehead, Mass., have shown that it can be done, however, he said. And in Camden, the parks department is studying up on mechanical and organic methods for controlling weeds.

The backlash against pesticides on Maine’s coast also is spreading beyond municipal and school properties.

Citizens for a Green Camden took their concerns to the town’s innkeepers and hotel and bed and breakfast operators, and all of them have pledged to stop using pesticides on their green lawns and colorful gardens. Now the group is helping to spread the word about Maine’s “safe-lawn lodging town” and its lush, organic gardens.

A sheet posted at Camden’s town office quickly filled with the signatures of 50 residents and business owners who pledged not to use lawn pesticides, McLean said. And she and other leaders of the group continue to appeal directly to business owners, including commercial landlords.

“Whenever we see the pesticide notification flag anywhere, we make a note of it,” she said.

And, on the Maine coast at least, such sightings are becoming a little less common.

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