July 2019: BMP Guide Developed for GCSAA

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Blankinship & Associates assisted the California Golf Course Superintendents Association in developing a California-specific BMP guide and template containing 17 chapters that include topics such as water conservation, integrated pest management,  pollinator protection,  and more.

June, July, and September 2019: Pesticide User Training

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Blankinship & Associates provided City of Concord staff with refresher training on the safe and effective use of pesticides, including topics such as organic herbicides, pesticide laws and regulations, and worker safety.

June 2019: CDFA SWEEP Grants

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                            San Joaquin County Farm Bureau members being assisted with SWEEP Grant application completion.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) provides grants to implement irrigation systems that reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and save water on farms.  In 2019, we assisted 3 growers with application document preparation who were successful in obtaining over $290,000 in grant funds. 

May 2019: SWRCB Agrochemical Fate and Transport Training

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Blankinship & Associates trained Division of Drinking Water staff on the fate and transport of agrochemicals in ground and surface water and their potential effect on drinking water supplies. 

March - April 2019: Sediment Erosion Control Planning (SECP) Training

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Blankinship & Associates hosted an online training and certification course for Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program Sediment and Erosion Control Planning (SECP) to educate farmers and agricultural landowners in the importance of sediment/erosion control and how to complete and certify their plan.

March 2019: Equipment Calibration Training
Weed season is upon us. Don't forget to calibrate your sprayers!

January 2019: California Weed Science Society (CWSS) Conference

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Blankinship & Associates presented on herbicide use options at aquatic sites.

April 2018: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Workshop

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Blankinship & Associates sponsored three customized training workshops for 100 Bay Area municipality workers, focused on effective IPM planning and implementation.

February 2018: Bay Area Flood Control Integrated Pest Management Workshop

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In 2018, Blankinship & Associates held a meeting for agencies to discuss various approaches to managing nuisance vegetation in urban creeks and flood control conveyances. 

Winter 2017-18: NPDES Stormwater Construction General Permit Compliance

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Construction General Permit (CGP) compliance during a golf course renovation.

Winter 2017-18: NPDES Stormwater Industrial General Permit Compliance

Drain inlet protection
Other types of drain inlet protection
Industrial General Permit (IGP) compliance drain inlet protection tools at work​.

December 2014 - Present: CDFA Statewide Project

California Department of Food & Agriculture
Statewide Project
Blankinship & Associates' staff have been part of a team that has helped the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) prepare their Final Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) to provide an up-to-date, transparent, and comprehensive evaluation of CDFA’s activities throughout the state of California. Our analysis included one of the largest scale pesticide Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment ever produced. It included eight (8) pesticide programs designed to protect California’s agriculture from damage caused by invasive plant pests. These programs include:
  • Pierce’s Disease Control Program
  • Asian Citrus Psyllid
  • Fruit Fly
  • Pest/Detection/Emergency Projects – Eradication (PD/EP-E)
  • Pest Detection/Emergency Projects – Detection (PD/EP-D)
  • Integrated Pest Control
  • Light Brown Apple Moth
  • European Grapevine Moth 


The analysis included:
  • TWENTY-NINE (29) Pesticide Active Ingredients
  •  FIFTY-ONE (51) Pesticide Inert Ingredients (including additives, adjuvants, lures, etc.)
  • SIXTY-NINE (69) products (includes pesticide, adjuvant, & trapping products)
  • TEN (10) human receptors including occupational, residential, and bystander exposures
  • FIFTY-ONE (51)  terrestrial and aquatic ecological receptors
  • TWO-HUNDRED-THIRTEEN (213) scenarios for the human risk assessment
  • ONE-HUNDRED-EIGHTY-SEVEN (187) scenarios for the ecological risk assessment

To manage this colossal project, we constructed two very powerful tools: the CRANK and the DASHBOARD.
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The Comprehensive Risk ANalysis Kalculator (CRANK) is a comprehensive integrated Microsoft Excel workbook that combines numerous state and federal agency Excel-based pesticide risk assessment models, in-house developed models, and output from external models together to form a consolidated tool used to estimate pesticide risk. The CRANK allows for rapid evaluation of risk under different scenarios to assess and formulate risk management strategies. Because the volume and detail of data generated by the CRANK is highly detailed, a user-friendly tool was developed to access this data called “The Dashboard.”

The Dashboard Database (DASHBOARD) is a Microsoft Access based database that houses all of the inputs and scenario details required to run the CRANK in addition to all results generated by the CRANK. Additionally, the DASHBOARD was constructed to automate the process of inputting data into the CRANK and extracting the results back into the database itself. Once inside the Dashboard Database, results can be accessed through intuitive, interactive user-interfaces. What would otherwise require parsing through millions of results printed on paper tables stretching for hundreds of miles is now just a few clicks away! Below is an introduction and explanatory video to the DASHBOARD: