Cintas Corp. named Bear Head Lake State Park in Minnesota as the 2025 America’s Best Restroom^® contest winner. As this year’s winner, Bear Head Lake State Park’s restrooms earned a prize package that includes a Cintas UltraClean^® restroom cleaning service, US$2,500 in Cintas products and services for restroom cleaning or facility management, and an honored place in America’s Best Restroom Hall of Fame.

The restroom and shower building at the state park offers function along with a thoughtful design in a stunning setting. With a fully accessible layout that meets all Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, this facility ensures comfort for all visitors. The exterior dishwashing sinks are a camper-friendly touch, providing a convenient space to clean up without trekking back to a waterless site.

“We are thrilled to receive the 2025 Best Restroom Award,” said Jody Popesh, park supervisor at Bear Head Lake State Park. “People don’t always think about restrooms when they’re planning a state park trip, but restrooms play an important role in providing comfort, accessibility and a positive overall experience. This award affirms the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ commitment to creating welcoming spaces for all visitors, down to the smallest details.”

In its 24^th year, the America’s Best Restroom contest celebrates businesses that develop and maintain innovative, hygienic restroom facilities. The state park was among nine finalists selected based on cleanliness, visual appearance, innovation, functionality and unique design elements. The public had the opportunity to vote for the following nine finalists (in alphabetical order) between Aug. 8 and Aug. 15 at bestrestroom.com:

• City of Fruita (Fruita, Colorado)
• Footprints (Lawrence, Kansas)
• Little America Hotel (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Moderne Bar (Orlando)
• The Rooftop at Pier 17 (New York City)
• Rosebrook Lodge (Bretton Woods, New Hampshire)
• Tatsu (Dallas)
• Tecolote Shores (San Diego)

“We’re proud to recognize Bear Head Lake State Park as this year’s America’s Best Restroom,” said John Rudy, Cintas senior director of marketing. “By prioritizing thoughtful design and attention to detail, Bear Head Lake State Park transformed a basic necessity into a welcoming, accessible and memorable part of the visitor journey. In addition to enhancing the entire park experience, the restrooms raise expectations for public spaces everywhere.”

Last year, Maverik – Adventure’s First Stop took home the top prize for its commitment to cleanliness and comfort, with sparkling fixtures, spacious stalls and fresh amenities that make each pit stop along your adventure a pleasant experience.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took a major step to evaluate key pesticide registration functions by releasing two evaluations of EPA programs. The effort supports the agency’s work to provide more regulatory certainty for companies that make pesticides and the businesses that use them to control pests and ensure our country’s food supply.

The first report provided the results of a third-party audit focused on assessing the operational performance of the agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) and provided recommendations for improvement. The second report evaluated OPP’s training and education gaps to support implementation of the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA 5). The agency shared the information to help improve the registration process for pesticide registrants and other stakeholders. 

In December 2022, PRIA 5 was reauthorized with new mandates designed to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of EPA’s pesticide registration process. PRIA 5 called for a third-party process assessment to evaluate and improve OPP’s operational performance, as well as the training needs and potential gaps in existing materials. The results of these assessments is what the EPA released.

Additionally, PRIA 5 provided for an independent workforce assessment to evaluate the adequacy of staffing resources implementing PRIA. The workforce assessment is tentatively scheduled to be conducted next year.  

One of EPA’s top priorities is reducing the backlog of pesticide regulatory actions pending review. Since Jan. 20, EPA has decreased this backlog by over 5,000 actions.    

EPA is reviewing the reports to consider how to best implement the recommendations and remains committed to further process improvements and IT efforts to modernize key pesticide registration functions, reduce the pesticide registration backlog, and implement gold-standard science.