Certain land uses, such as row crop agriculture, are generally high users of a variety of pesticides to control insects and weeds in fields. Other land uses are associated with more moderate use of pesticides, such as residential areas. Using a system of rating land use types as high, moderate, or low use of pesticides, the risk of pollution runoff from land use classes has been analyzed. The results are shown on the map at right. Yellow areas indicate land uses that have a low risk, pink areas indicate land uses that have a moderate risk, and red areas indicate land uses that have a high risk for pesticide pollution.
Blue areas indicate land uses for which there are insufficient data to analyze.
Please click on the map for a larger view. The map shown at right shows wetlands and the relative risk to each based on the use of pesticides in the surrounding land uses. Green areas indicate wetlands that have no risk of pollution from surrounding land uses. These are wetlands that are surrounded by natural areas, preserves, or vacant land. The scale of risk corresponds to a gradient of color from white to deep red.