The USDA-NRCS National Water and Climate Center developed and supports the Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (WIN-PST).  NRCS Pest Management Policy (November 2001) requires the use of WIN-PST or other NRCS-approved environmental risk analysis tools to support the development of the pest management component of a conservation plan.

WIN-PST is a pesticide environmental risk screening tool that NRCS field office conservationists, extension agents, crop consultants, pesticide dealers and producers can use to evaluate the potential for pesticides to move with water and eroded soil/organic matter and affect non-target organisms.

NRCS partners (such as private pest control advisors) now have access to an easy-to-use tool for considering environmental risk when making recommendations that were previously based only on efficacy and economics.  WIN-PST goes beyond previous NRCS screening tools to consider the impact of water table depth, irrigation, residue management and pesticide application area, method and rate class (Standard, Low, Ultralow).

WIN-PST users can specify pesticides by product name or active ingredient.  Long-term human and fish toxicity data and ratings are also included in WIN-PST.  These toxicity ratings can be combined with the off-site movement potential ratings to provide an overall rating of the potential risks from pesticide movement below the root zone and past the edge of the field. 

Version 2.0062 B

- The WIN-PST Pesticide Properties Database (WIN-PST PPD) has been updated with properties for 21 new active ingredients.

- The product database has been updated to reflect the latest EPA's registration data, as of January 5, 2002.

- Users can now specify the printer to which reports are sent. 

Version 2.0050 A

- WIN-PST is now CCE certified for installation on NRCS field office CCE computers.

- The WIN-PST Pesticide Properties Database (WIN-PST PPD) has been updated to reflect the latest EPA registration data, as of May 24, 2000.

- Several new toxicity values have been added for fish and humans.

- Soil texture classes can now be viewed either as abbreviations (FSL) or spelled out (Fine sandy loam).

- Printing is now easier and more reliable.

- Help has been expanded and improved.

     - WIN-PST runs under the Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 (Incl. CCE Configurations) operating systems.  (This product will not install on Windows 3.1. If you are running Windows 3.1, contact the WIN-PST Technology Team for advice.)

     - Processor -- Suggested minimum: Pentium or equivalent processor running at 100 MHz.

     - Memory -- Suggested minimum: 16 MEG RAM.

     - Disk space -- Suggested minimum: 65 MEG before installation.

     - The optimal setting for WIN-PST is 800*600 or higher resolution, using the small font set.

     - If you are in 640*480 resolution, some of the forms may run off the screen.

     - If you are using the large font set, some of the text on the window objects may be truncated.

     - You can close a window by:
          - Pressing the Close or Return button in the lower right hand corner of the window.
          - Pressing the X icon in the upper right hand corner of the window.
          - Pressing Ctrl-F4.

     - You can close an application by:
          - Pressing the X icon in the upper right hand corner of the main window.
          - Pressing Alt-F4.

    - Soils data are available for all states and most territories.

    - Current soils data (as of June 2000) are mainly from the Ames, IA MUIR database.

    - Soil survey areas are missing from some of the state soils databases. Please contact the WIN-PST developers if you find a specific survey area missing.

    - NASIS soils will be available in the near future.

    - To download and install soils, see the section titled "II. Downloading and Installing Soils" below.

There is no way in the WIN-PST software you can delete or remove pesticides from the database.  The only way to remove pesticides from WIN-PST would be to edit the databases with a database application, such as dBase or other compatible database software, which can write out dBase 5 files. This IS NOT recommended however, since any editing may corrupt linkages and indexes needed for WIN-PST to function properly. A subset of pesticides can be selected in WIN-PST to tailor reports to an area, crop, or pest.

If you are having problems downloading files using your web browser, right-click using your mouse on the link to the file that you want to download. You will then be presented with a menu of options. Depending on your web browser, ...

NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR - Choose 'SAVE LINK AS ...' to save the file to your computer. This menu choice may seem counter-intuitive, but it does what you want. This command tells NETSCAPE to save the file at that link to your computer instead of trying to display the contents of that file in the web browser.

INTERNET EXPLORER - Choose 'SAVE TARGET AS ...' to save the file to your computer. This command tells EXPLORER to save the file at that target to your computer instead of trying to display the contents of that file in the web browser.

WIN-PST comes installed with Massachusetts soils data by default. Soils data for additional regions of the United States and its territories can be downloaded from the National Water and Climate Center server.

By default, WIN-PST is configured to use the Massachusetts soils data set. To configure WIN-PST to use the new soils data set you just downloaded, follow these directions:

1) From the "WIN-PST Main Menu" (WIN-PST.WFM), press the [Manage Soil Data] button. You will now see the "MANAGE WIN-PST SOIL DATA" window (MAN_SOIL.WFM).

2) Press the [Select the soils data table used by WIN-PST] button. This will bring you to the "Select the set of SOILS data used in the WIN-PST system." window (SOIL_SET.WFM).

3) Click on the FILENAME or DESCRIPTION of the soils table you want (highlighting either field will choose that soil data set).

4) Press [Select This Table] button.  This will select the data set you highlighted (chosen) in step 3 above.

The soils data set you have selected will now be available in the Select Soils window [SEL_SOIL.WFM].

IV. REMOVING WIN-PST

 1) (Windows NT) Log in as the administrator of your machine.
 2) Click on the Start button in the lower left-hand corner of the desktop.
 3) Open the Settings -> Control Panel folder.
 4) Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon to open it.
 5) Click on the Install/Uninstall tab of the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog.
 6) Scroll through the list until you find the WIN-PST program.
 7) Select it by left-clicking on the WIN-PST entry in the list, using your mouse.
 8) Press the Add/Remove... button to initiate the automated removal process for this program.
 9) In the Confirm File Deletion dialog, press the Yes button to completely remove WIN-PST and all of its components.
10) Wait while Uninstallshield removes WIN-PST from your system.
11) Close the Add/Remove Programs Properties window.
12) Close the Control Panel.
13) Remove the following section headers:

    Windows NT -- from c:\winnt\win.ini :
         [IDAPI]
         [Borland Language Drivers]

    Windows 95/98 -- from c:\windows\win.ini :
         [IDAPI]
         [Borland Language Drivers]

IV. CONTACTS 

NATIONAL WATER AND CLIMATE CENTER WIN-PST TECHNOLOGY TEAM CONTACTS