In California, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has a license and certification system which allows for professionals to apply pesticides as a part of their job duties. While everyone using pesticides must follow all directions on the pesticide label, as well as any additional state or local regulations, professional applicators need to follow additional regulations. Most employees who spray pesticides hold a qualified applicator license (QAL) or qualified applicator certificate (QAC). In addition, DPR’s license and certification system only allows pesticide applicators to apply pesticides on a site that matches a category on the applicator’s license. For example, if you work for a transportation department then you will likely need to have category C on your license for rights of way applications, or if you work for a parks department and spray herbicides on the weeds near recreational park grounds, then you will likely need Category B, landscape maintenance, on your DPR license or certificate.

For pesticide applicators in wildlands, this license category system has previously been difficult to work with. There has historically not been a wildlands or natural areas license category. If pesticide applicators have been making pesticide applications in wildland sites that might be called non-crop areas, natural areas, nature preserves, or outdoor recreation areas (such as hiking trails, not turf or playgrounds) they may have been recommended to obtain possibly several different license categories depending on the vegetation on site. Natural areas herbicide applications often did not fall into the old categories of forestry (Category E), rights of way (Category C), or landscapes (such as ornamental landscaping Category B).

DPR has now included non-crop areas, and wildlands specifically, in Category D, Plant Agriculture. Wildland applicators will need to add this category to their license or certificate, if they don’t have it already. This now helps fix the problem of wildland applicators not having a specific license category. The category of Plant Agriculture (Category D) includes farms, rangelands, pastures and “non-crop agricultural areas.” Wildlands are specifically mentioned in non-crop agricultural areas, even though a wildland would not generally be thought of as an agricultural area. From the DPR’s summary information, besides covering agriculture, Category D also covers pest control in: … “Non-crop agricultural lands which will not in the foreseeable future be used to grow food, feed, or fiber crops, or to pasture animals; this includes but is not limited to: wildlands, farm roads and shoulders, ditches, and on-farm equipment yards.” (emphasis added)

The category D, Plant Agriculture, which obviously covers agricultural sites, now also includes wildlands. This could be confusing for those who apply pesticides in wildland areas and is important to understand. For sites that do not have agriculture now or in the foreseeable future, or are non-croplands, and don’t fit other categories, wildland applicators will need to learn the basics of applying pesticides in agricultural systems to pass the knowledge exam for Category D. They must now have this agricultural knowledge so they can be licensed to apply pesticides in non-crop wildlands and natural areas, because those areas are now included with plant agriculture. 

For those licensed applicators who have little knowledge of spraying pesticides in agricultural systems, DPR has an online and free study guide to help. The study guide has sections on practices wildland applicators may have little knowledge of but will now need to know more about such as: cover crops, intercropping, soil tillage, rodenticides, and pheromone traps. There is also a helpful series of practice questions in the back of the book with answers. The DPR plant agriculture pest control study guide can be found here:

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/plant_agriculture_study_guide.pdf

DPR also has a guide to knowledge expectations for plant agriculture, found here:

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/knowledge_cat_d.pdf

These knowledge expectations summarize higher level concepts which can help to pass the Category D exam. 

Licensed applicators who do not have category D on their license and want to apply pesticides in wildlands will also need to submit the application materials (found on the website below), pay the $115 fee to take the test for each new category at a testing center, and if they successfully pass, they will receive an updated license or certificate. DPR is now partnering with PSI testing centers which offers computer-based examinations (I took my first exams for my license on a paper test!) which are located across the state, which should make testing more convenient. 

For more details or information on testing and licensing or certificates, please see this DPR website: 

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/apply-for-a-license/

For more information on testing procedures and testing centers see this DPR website:

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/exam_info.pdf

For a list of all DPR’s recommended study materials for all license categories, see this DPR webpage:

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/qac_and_qal_study_material.pdf

Follow all directions in DPR’s resources and refer to DPR’s content for current information. If there are any discrepancies between this webpage and in DPR’s content, refer to DPR’s content. For any additional information about your specific situation please contact your local agricultural commissioner or visit the DPR licensing webpage. 

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/apply-for-a-license/