About the Course

The following presentation was developed to train Forest Service employees in Region 8 (the Southern Region) who will be prescribing the use of pesticides, approving their use, or applying pesticides within their job duties. The training when given requires a week; of lecture and testing time. The tests which go with this training are additional teaching tools designed to give the students practical experience with the use of actual pesticide labels and other documentation relevant to the use of pesticides on National Forest System lands.

The primary objectives of the course include:

• The presentation of all material necessary to fulfill the training requirements outlined in FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act); students are provided with an introduction to a variety of pesticide related subject matter including:
• Toxicology
• Labeling -
• product labels
• MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets)
• other labeling
• Product formulation
• Law and regulation - including
• FIFRA
• WPS (the Worker Protection Standard),
• FSM (Forest Service Manual)/FSH (Forest Service Handbook) regulations)
• Safety
• Application equipment and its calibration
• Pests - primarily insect pests and diseases of the forest
• Recordkeeping
• The introduction of available NEPA background documentation applicable to pesticide projects in the Federal setting
• Region 8's Vegetation Management EISs
• The R-8 southern pine beetle EIS
• The national gypsy moth EIS

Emphasis in the course is placed on those pesticides most used in forest management (silvicultural activities [site preparation, release, and thinning], wildlife habitat management, rights-of-way management, and aquatic habitat management) in the east - the herbicides; but, a limited exposure to insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides is included in the course work.

When offered in a classroom setting testing is done throughout the course; a general exam is given the first day (based on pre-course reading which is provided to participants and which is available in conjunction with this program) and then category exams the relevant materials are covered throughout the course.

Obviously, the Powerpoint presentation is a detailed outline of the material presented. During the week-long course, we present more than 20 hours of lectures which are only incompletely reflected by these presentations.

Current labels and MSDSs for the products discussed in modules 9, 10, 13, 14, 20 and 21 are available at: http://www.cdms.net/manuf/manuf.asp on the Internet. They are not reproduced in this presentation. The material presented in modules 9, 13 and 14 is taken from the summary pages which we have prepared to precede the labels for products containing each of the active ingredients presented in the Region 8 label book (prepared ad distributed for use at all District offices in the Region).

A word of caution: Do Not Attempt To Memorize The Product Labels. Labels are in a state of constant change: permissions and restrictions are constantly changing. Always read the label before choosing any product for use! Be certain that the product is appropriate to the task at hand. Remember always that The Label Is The Law relative to product use.

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