A federal judge in Sacramento has barred the USFS from using herbicides
Subject: A federal judge in Sacramento has barred the USFS from using herbicides
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 11:56:05 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulationcc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read the following article:
SACRAMENTO, California, September 4, 2001 (ENS) - A federal judge in Sacramento has barred the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) from using herbicides to kill brush and grasses on 10,900 acres in the Tahoe National Forest.
Judge Lawrence Karleton said the agency cannot proceed with the plan until it assesses how use of the herbicides would affect the spread of noxious weeds and considers new information that calls into question earlier USFS findings that use of the herbicides would not harm humans and wildlife.
The USFS had planned to use the herbicides to kill brush growing around pine seedlings planted in the 44,000 acres that burned in the Cottonwood Fire in 1994. The area contains the largest high elevation wetlands in the Sierra Nevada and includes sensitive habitat for a number of rare and threatened animals.
Under the judge's ruling, the Forest Service must evaluate the herbicides' potential to encourage the spread of noxious weeds, including cheatgrass, the most dangerous fuel for early season fires.
"Studies show that what grows back after forest herbicides are sprayed often creates a situation far worse than what was there before," said Patty Clary of the lead plaintiff group Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs). Clary added that cheatgrass, which is rapidly advancing through the Sierras, increases fire danger in forest areas because it is a thick grass that dries up before native grasses do.
"The fire season can begin six weeks earlier than it did historically once cheatgrass gets established by disturbances such as the use of herbicides," said Clary.
In designing the herbicide project, the USFS relied on a 1988 Environmental Impact Statement that found that the agency's use of the herbicides would not harm humans or wildlife. But the judge decided that the study's conclusions were outdated in light of new information that indicates that the herbicides adversely affect immune, nerve and endocrine systems of animals and humans.
The court also ordered the USFS to evaluate whether use of the herbicides to remove brush was needed to protect the conifer seedlings. A CATs forestry expert testified that there is evidence that removing brush cover will impair the growth of conifer seedlings.
"On the ground conditions in the proposed Cottonwood spray area show that brush may be actually enhancing conifer seedling growth," said forestry expert Dan Zimmerman.
Well Mr. Helliker, it is a shame that apparently the only way to prevent the ongoing use and misuse of your "registered" POISONS is to sue. Common sense although not too common, would seem easier. But then, you might be forced to allow the use of safe and far more effective (unregistered) alternatives. Rachel Carson once noted: "Knowing what I do, there would be not future peace for me if I kept silent." How long will you keep silent knowing what you do?
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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