To the editor:
At last, after suffering through ice storms, power outages and road closures we can take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the coming of Spring heralded by the recent sunny days, budding rhododendrons and blooming daffodils.
Or can we? Along with Spring on the Oregon coast comes herbicide spray season, sometimes called “Spring Spray Fever.”
For those people who are new to Oregon this is a legalized but highly toxic practice that has been condoned by Oregon lawmakers for decades. This despite repeated appeals and attempts to ban this poisonous practice by the past and potential victims of this ostensibly “well-regulated” practice.
The FERNS section of the Oregon Department of Forestry website enables ordinary citizens to monitor forest activity on state and private timberland. One can subscribe to receive a notification or NOAP (Notification of Operations/Permit to Operate Power-Driven Machinery) online. It is a confusing process at best, completely befuddling at worst.
NOAP #2024-553-04822 reveals that Starker Forests of Corvallis plans to disperse a combination of herbicides, one of which is 2,4-D which is a component of Agent Orange, onto three separate parcels via aerial drone east of Yachats in the next 90 days.
2,4-D has been shown to drift miles from where it’s applied. Even if Starker diligently follows the laws, leaving 100-foot buffers from fish-bearing and domestic water streams it can still contaminate drinking water of the residential areas only a few miles from the 37-acre parcel east of Yachats near Starr Creek.
We are long overdue to ban this poisonous practice which benefits none other than the profit margins of timber and chemical corporations. Please send your letters of disagreement and alarm to all of our local and state elected officials.
- Barbara Davis/Waldport
Thank you so much for writing this letter. Informative and actionable.
To the folks who tell us this is legal, yes they are absolutely right. But the new data shows that it shouldn’t be, and the laws should be changed. Thanks Barbara for your information. We can join together and change things if we get organized and speak loudly and consistently to everyone who is in charge.