Brunswick workshop launches push for broader pesticide, fertilizer ordinance

A homeowner’s choice of lawn treatment could soon be part of a larger Brunswick policy fight, with town leaders using an April 28 workshop to build support for a broader ordinance on pesticides and fertilizer that could affect how residents care for lawns, gardens and other landscaped areas.

The Healthy Watersheds Workshop is set for Tuesday, April 28, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Crooker Theater in Brunswick High School, 71 Dragon Drive. Registration is required. The event is free, with complimentary refreshments, and the main presentation begins at 6 p.m. with Ali Clift of the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District. The town says the program will cover healthy lawncare practices, watershed protection, pollution prevention, and pesticide and fertilizer management, along with a question-and-answer session and take-home resources.

Brunswick is framing the meeting as more than an education night. The town says the workshop will bring together local nonprofits, town committees and municipal staff to discuss sustainable watershed practices, local projects and proposed ordinance changes. Co-hosted by the Town of Brunswick and the Brunswick Conservation Commission, the session is meant to help launch efforts toward a more inclusive pesticides and fertilizer ordinance, putting residents at the front end of a local rulemaking process that could reach deep into everyday property maintenance.

The push builds on a longer planning effort. Brunswick’s Environment and Sustainability page says the town is building out a watersheds information hub, and its Watersheds page is still under development to collect information about local watershed initiatives, protections, projects and studies. The Conservation Commission says it promotes conservation, ecological values and educational outreach on local and regional conservation issues, a mandate that has already carried the town into watershed planning for Mare Brook. That work began after the Department of Planning and Development received a state watershed-planning grant in 2019, with the Mare Brook Watershed Management Plan starting in October 2019 and the final report delivered by the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District on January 5, 2022.

The ordinance conversation is also already moving through town boards. An April 1, 2026 Conservation Commission agenda included healthy watersheds workshop planning, pesticides and fertilizers discussion, tabling at the workshop and community-engagement efforts. Earlier, a January 28, 2025 town agenda item described proposed Shoreline Protection Ordinance revisions that would limit fertilizers and pesticides and prohibit storage of other hazardous materials. Town materials say the goal is to protect the shoreline zone, marine and coastal environment and economy. Staff materials add that synthetic pesticides and fertilizers can increase nutrient loads that contribute to algae blooms and harm the marine ecosystem and economy.

Brunswick is pairing the workshop with a broader spring environmental push. Its Earth Day Festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, where the Sustainability Committee plans to share recycling and sustainability information. A Brunswick Earth Day Coastal Cleanup is also scheduled for April 25 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Together, the events show the town moving from public education toward the more consequential question of what rules should govern the products residents put on their properties.