Luther College is spraying lawns

Luther College will spray its lawns with herbicides starting Friday evening, with Saturday and Sunday as back-up days, if needed.

In response to community requests, Luther manager of environmental services Ivan Hackman has established a no-spray "buffer zone" that will be observed around the Decorah Swimming Pool lawn so that the play area for children is protected.

Other no-spray "buffer zones" include the dike areas, edible landscape areas and the Sustainability House. Spraying will take place after normal work hours and on weekends.

Luther vice president for Communications and Marketing Rob Larson said, "A number of modifications to our application process have been made to ensure that wind variability is taken into account with anemometer readings and that additional space is used as a buffer between Luther green space and public space, particularly in the area of the community pool."
 
Wind speeds will be checked before the herbicide is sprayed. In no case will product be applied when the wind speed exceeds 10 miles per hour.  A representative of Luther's Facilities Services will be present during the herbicide application process.

Application of herbicides is done according to the product guidelines and in compliance with the Material Safety Data Sheet, which is maintained for all products used. The Material Safety Data Sheet contains information on the potential health effects of exposure to chemicals, or other potentially dangerous substances, and on safe working procedures users should adhere to when handling chemical products.