Integrated Pest Management in City Parks in Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian limits pesticide and herbicide use through two Integrated Pest Management plans, one for city parks and properties and one for the stormwater canals, ditches and ponds.

Both plans put the same rule first: try biological, physical, mechanical and cultural controls, and use chemicals only in limited amounts after that. The parks plan was approved by Resolution No. R-20-12 at the October 14th, 2020 City Council meeting (City of Sebastian). The stormwater plan passed on September 8, 2021 in a 5-0 vote, with Mayor Ed Dodd, Vice Mayor Jim Hill and Councilmembers Chris Nunn, Fred Jones and Bob McPartlan voting yes (Sebastian Daily). The city Stormwater IPM page lists its adopting resolution as R-21-14.

Neither plan bans chemicals outright. What they change is the order of operations and the record keeping. Councilman Chris Nunn said the stormwater plan includes logging and transparency into the City's methods and chemicals used, available to any person who requests it (Sebastian Daily, Sept. 9, 2021). Both plans grew out of the Natural Resources Board, and the city describes its IPM program as a Sustainable Sebastian Initiative (City of Sebastian).

Sebastian wrote its IPM plans after a 2019 fight over glyphosate in city waterways led the City Council to halt spraying and then ask for a written, science-reviewed policy.

The question started in the spring of 2019. On April 10, 2019, the council of that year tasked City Manager Paul Carlisle with looking for alternatives to using glyphosate in Sebastian waterways (Sebastian Daily, Dec. 9, 2019). After an election changed the council, the new members moved faster. On November 25, 2019, the council voted 4 to 1 to stop herbicide and pesticide spraying near stormwater for one year and in parks for 120 days, and to limit spraying within 10 feet of any body of water on the golf course (Sebastian Daily). Councilman Jim Hill cast the only no vote, arguing that the ballfields would soon be unusable and that every product used had EPA approval.

Carlisle's herbicide report, presented at the December 11, 2019 meeting, explained the bind. The city holds permits from the St. Johns River Water Management District that require its waterways to be maintained so water discharges and exotic vegetation is kept out, and the report said the Storm Water Treatment Park was not in compliance with that permit. It also noted that Sebastian had cut its herbicide use by over 50 percent in 2013 at the request of residents, and that the cut had caused the overgrowth seen in the system (Sebastian Daily). The report counted seventeen active herbicide ingredients approved for use in Florida waters as of 2018.

The ban had a visible cost within weeks. In January 2020, fire ants closed Friendship Park, and the council agreed to treat the fields with Advion, a fire ant bait, while other parks stayed under the hold (Sebastian Daily, Jan. 26, 2020). The IPM Sub-Committee formed after that spent five months on research and review before the parks plan reached the council in October 2020.

The Sebastian parks plan covers more than 300 acres at more than 25 city sites, from Riverview Park on Indian River Drive to the Barber Street Sports Complex, plus the Municipal Cemetery.

According to the city, the Leisure Services Department is the steward of over 300 acres of land at more than 25 locations, including community parks, city grounds, street medians, pathways and sports facilities, with large park areas making up 280 acres (City of Sebastian Parks IPM). The playing surfaces are the hard part. Sebastian parks hold 10 tennis courts, 11 playgrounds, 8 pickleball courts, 4 basketball courts, 3 football or soccer fields, 5 baseball or softball fields and 3 volleyball courts, along with a dog park, a splash pad and a skate park. Turf with that much foot traffic is where fire ants and weeds push hardest against a low-chemical policy.

The plan reaches past the parks. The 11 acre Municipal Cemetery, managed by the Public Facilities Department, is mostly sodded groundcover with frequent foot traffic, so the city folded it into the same plan. The water inside parks is left out on purpose: ponds, canals and ditches on park land fall to the Stormwater Department and its separate plan. That split matters at Easy Street Park, Periwinkle Park and Stormwater Park, where the lawn and the lake edge are handled under two different documents.

The sub-committee that wrote the parks plan drew on four Natural Resources Board members, city staff and scientific advisers from Pelican Island Audubon Society, UF/IFAS Indian River County Extension and Florida State Parks. The city lists the parks covered by name, including Friendship Park, Hardee Park, Schumann Drive Park, the Sebastian Bark Park, the Splash Pad, the Skate Park and the Golf Course. The city also posts a guide to IPM for home use alongside the plan.

Sebastian's stormwater IPM plan targets invasive aquatic plants such as hydrilla, water hyacinth and alligatorweed in the canals and ponds, using harvesting and other non-chemical methods first and spot treatment after.

The plan exists to keep water moving. Its sub-committee, made up of three Natural Resources Board members, three local scientific advisers and three city staff, set the goal of preserving the treatment, transportation and storage capacity of the entire conveyance system (City of Sebastian Stormwater IPM). That system is large: the Stormwater Utility maintains swales, ditches, culverts, catch basins and the 8.15 mile Elkcam Canal/Collier Creek Canal (City of Sebastian Stormwater).

Goals published before the vote included reducing the amount of pollutants entering surface and groundwater, minimizing effects on native plants, animals and habitats, promoting transparency and increasing public awareness of IPM methods (Sebastian Daily, Sept. 8, 2021). The plan also calls for non-chemical methods for the canal system, ditches and ponds.

State law sets the outer frame. Under the Florida Aquatic Weed Control Act, no person or public agency may control, eradicate, remove or otherwise alter aquatic weeds or plants in waters of the state without a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission unless the activity is exempt by rule (Section 369.20, F.S.). FWC's Invasive Plant Management Section coordinates and funds statewide programs controlling invasive aquatic plants (FWC). Hydrilla shows why: FWC reports it occupied more than 140,000 acres of public lakes and rivers by the early 1990s (FWC), and a Sebastian canal choked with it holds less storm runoff.

Sebastian posts each planned aquatic herbicide treatment by zone on the city Stormwater home page, naming the zones and the date of spot treatment.

In October 2026 the notice read that, in accordance with the Integrated Pest Management Plan, the city's licensed contractor would spot treat nuisance aquatic vegetation in Zones 4 and 5 of the stormwater conveyance system on October 7, weather permitting (City of Sebastian Stormwater). The Stormwater IPM page sends readers back to that home page for public notice of herbicide treatments. Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.

Public reporting has also corrected rumors. In February 2021, residents told Sebastian Daily they believed the city was spraying glyphosate again near a pond on Schumann Drive. The paper found the city had not sprayed glyphosate in nearly 1 1/2 years, was spraying once a month, and used 4.8 gallons of herbicide in its December 2020 treatment, with more manual harvesting than spraying that year (Sebastian Daily, Feb. 1, 2021). The dead roadside vegetation along US 1 south of CR 512 that drew calls was outside the city and had been sprayed by Florida Power and Light to clear power lines.

Residents who see dumping or a spill in a Sebastian ditch report it to Code Enforcement at (772) 388-4436, and the Citizens Request Line at (772) 581-0111 takes stormwater questions (City of Sebastian). Policy questions go to the Natural Resources Board, which has 7 members and 2 alternates and meets the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers at Sebastian City Hall (City of Sebastian).