The program was approved in 1999, however was only partially funded until the 2005-2007 biennium. The budget is approximately $1.9 million and although was intended to come to an end in 2009, it is now predicted that the legislature will be extended.

According to Sara “Sunny Jones, the temporary system implemented about 2002, was not user friendly with the ODA’s pesticide division. The modified system will be used by more than 120,000 pesticide applicators statewide and has the potential to generate nearly 8 million reports of individual applications annually.

Reporting is via Web site only. Information can be found at www.oregon.gov/ODA/PEST/purs_index.shtml.

Partial project funding comes from a grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Public Health Tracking Program. The new program records location data in a broad way by watershed or ZIP code.

Norma Grier, executive director of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, said the education of user groups is key to the program’s success.

Farmers and foresters already keep records and work with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Other groups such as landscapers will have to learn what’s expected of them in terms of record keeping she adds.