IPM stresses working with nature to encourage a healthy environment with minimal pest problems. DPR honored this organization with an 'IPM Innovator' award in 1999, based largely on its educational programs designed to keep pesticides out of our water supplies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, headquartered in San Francisco, provided funding for the project. The two-year schedule calls for training 120 teachers in the Bay Area, with the goal of developing a workshop curriculum that can be used statewide in urban and rural school districts. Aquatic Outreach Institute has provided thousands of educators, schoolchildren, and the public with information about aquatic resources, IPM, and proper pesticide disposal.
Many programs focus on preventing pollution of neighborhood creeks from urban pesticide runoff.