By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
SEAL ROCK – The timber company approved to spray herbicides by helicopter on 473 acres in the South Beaver Creek watershed has submitted a new notification to conduct ground spraying on the same tracts.
The area is the water source for the largest water district in Lincoln County.
The notification made Wednesday is what the Seal Rock Water District, the Oregon Department of Forestry and residents opposed to spraying have been looking for as an indication whether ANE Forests of Oregon would consider alternatives to aerial spraying.
The new notification came despite unsuccessful efforts by the district, county commissioners and Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis to meet with ANE owner Sorn Nymark of Denmark to learn how he intends to apply herbicides. An ANE consultant told YachatsNews two weeks ago that aerial spraying was “highly unlikely” but a final decision was up to Nymark.
The new notification to use backpack spraying methods does not mean the company cannot still apply herbicides by air.
“They’ve still got the aerial notification out there, it’s still valid,” said Oregon Department of Forestry Toledo unit forester Matt Thomas. “There’s nothing to say they couldn’t backpack spray some areas and aerial spray others.”
The notification to backpack spray starts a 14-day window for public comments to ODF. That window closes at midnight Sept. 13. The public comment period on aerial spraying resulted in more than 200 letters and emails.
The area to be sprayed encompasses 473 acres on seven clear cuts. It is a decades-long practice in Oregon to prepare harvested areas for new seedlings by applying herbicides to kill competing vegetation.
The 1971 Oregon Forest Practices Act, which governs private forest land uses in the state, does not require herbicide use, but it does require that trees be planted within two years of a harvest and that they are “free to grow” without hinderance from competing vegetation. Regulations allow for a 90-day spraying period from the start date to account for weather conditions.
Water district opposition
Seal Rock Water District officials have opposed the aerial spraying of a cocktail of herbicides in the South Beaver Creek watershed since first being notified of the plan Aug. 8. General manger Adam Denlinger sent an email to ODF, which manages private forestlands in the state, shortly after learning that spraying could begin as early as Saturday, Sept. 2.
Seal Rock, which serves 5,500 customers, has a one-year-old raw water intake immediately downstream of the proposed herbicide application, Denlinger wrote. The district “is concerned that herbicides will be transported by aerosol drift, from the sprayed areas over nearby surface waters” and contaminate “the public drinking water system,” he wrote.
A wave of public opposition quickly formed once word of the planned spray reached Beaver Creek residents and water district customers. However, opponents quickly learned that aerial and ground spraying of herbicides is allowed on private forestlands in Oregon — and that only the owner can stop it.
Despite that, opponents have continued to meet at least once a week to devise ways to raise public awareness and stop the herbicide application. A petition asking the governor to stop it has surpassed 2,500 signatures. Opponents are also seeking legal advice to see if an injunction can stop any plans.
The water district has also consulted with a lawyer.
In 2017 Lincoln County voters passed Measure 21-177, which banned aerial spraying of herbicides. The ban stayed in place for 29 months before it was overturned by a circuit judge who ruled that state laws preempt laws passed by local governments.
Buffers and notification
The Forest Practice Act requires buffer zones between herbicide applications in relation to surface water, water intakes, homes and schools. The buffer distances vary greatly depending on where and whether applied by air or ground.
Aerial buffers on forestlands are currently set at a minimum distance of 75 feet from fish-bearing streams and 50 feet from others. Some aerial buffers in the South Beaver Creek watershed are 100 feet. Buffer distances are set to increase statewide beginning Jan. 1.
In contrast, buffers for ground spraying can be as little as 10 feet. The ground-spraying permit submitted by ANE identifies four types of surface water found on its property and what buffers will be used, according to ODF.
Those include an 85-foot buffer for a small salmon, steelhead, bull trout “designated” stream. There are also “regular fish” streams that will have a buffer of 50 feet, a “domestic” stream (meaning there is a domestic water intake or diversion) that will have a 50-foot buffer, and a non-fish stream that will have a 10-foot buffer.
Timberland owners are required to notify people living within one mile of the spray boundary prior to any aerial spraying. Notifications are required to go out before 7 p.m. the day before the planned spray.
In order to receive those notifications, residents must be registered through the same ODF system that lists permits. No notification is required for ground spraying.
While aerial spraying in the South Beaver Creek watershed could begin as early as Saturday, it is extremely unlikely based on weather conditions stipulated by the forest practices act.
“They want to make sure they have a good weather interval no matter what application they use,” Thomas said.
Ground-spraying cannot occur until after the public comment period closes.
What’s next?
Seal Rock water customers and community members concerned about the potential spraying have expressed opposition to any kind of herbicide application. They met with water district officials Wednesday morning — prior to the ANE’s new ground spray application — to seek assurances their water supply would not be contaminated and to find out what the district intends to do if the spraying takes place.
Denlinger said he could not advise people outside the district short of recommending they conduct their own water tests. He assured district customers that no tainted water would reach them.
“At this point in time I’m not sure that’s in your control,” said TiAnne Rios of Seal Rock, who has been organizing much of the opposition. “That’s the big concern of the whole community. I feel like we’re kind of going into a war zone.”
Rios said the community is trying to gear up for the spray without knowing what day or time it might occur. Another audience member, who described herself as living at ground zero of the application, said aerial spray required only a 12-hour notice, which was not enough time move people let alone stock animals.
The water district board held an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon to further go over what steps would be taken to ensure public safety. The news of the filing to spray by ground will not change its protection plans.
Denlinger said he is in contact with ANE to assure the district will be notified whether application is carried out by air or ground. Once notified of any spraying the district’s raw water intake on Beaver Creek will be shut down, he said.
The district has a five- to seven-day water supply before it will have to turn to the city of Newport to purchase water. It can also get water from the city of Toledo, its former source.
With the required ongoing testing for herbicides and the time it takes to get results back, Denlinger said, the district may have to shut off its intake multiple times.
A scheduled herbicide spray Sept. 9 in the Siletz River watershed, where Newport and Toledo get their water, was yet another concern raised by district customers.
“We have no intention of bringing water in that is contaminated or polluted,” said Denlinger, who is scheduled to meet Sept. 6 with the four agencies responsible for a pesticide management team as required by the state’s pesticide management plan for water protection.
In addition to ODF, the agencies are the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture. They are aware of the Seal Rock situation and have been meeting in preparation for meeting with Denlinger.
The district will be working off their recommendations to form a plan to protect its water, said Denlinger, who remains concerned about contamination no matter how spraying is carried out.
“Any application that risks (our) intake is concerning,” he told Thursday’s emergency meeting. “Regardless of backpack or aerial, our response is the same. We may not have risk of immediate drift, but we still have the risk of runoff and long-term impacts.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
Thank you YachatsNews for publishing this article. Nothing is more important than clean drinking water. We are seeking answers about daily living should this aerial and/or backpack spray take place. Many scary moving parts here. Aerial spray means chemicals on the ground, in the water and adrift in the air, but we get a 12 hour advanced notice if you are registered with FERNS to receive that notice. Backpack spray means more concentrated spraying, smaller buffer zones around water sources and no advance notice (even ODF will not know when he sprays) and the application can be done multiple times between now and December 2023.
What to do?
1. Every one of us should be registered for FERNS @ https://ferns.odf.oregon.gov/E-Notification/CreateAccount because this could happen to any and all of us who live near the forest.
2. Additionally, if you get your drinking water from a surface- pond, stream, or spring-register that source so that the land owner is obligated to include the buffer zone in their plans. No registration, then the spray can go directly into that body of water.
3. Click JOIN US on https://www.stop-the-spray.com to keep informed and help us reform the laws to protect our water!
4. Attend in person public meetings to keep informed: Mondays 6 pm at the Seal Rock Garden Club and/or Wednesdays 3 pm at the Waldport Community Center.
There are never ‘guarantees’ for using herbicides. If aerial spraying is done will it be done on days with less than 6 mph? Lately, we are experiencing high winds of over 20 mph. It seems there would be minimal reason for aerial spraying on such days. No pun intended, but it would be “like spitting into the wind”.
Does Denmark (or the EU) allow the use of herbicides where they live….and drink water?
Replanted trees must be “free to grow” from hindrance by competing vegetation? That’s in the law? Wow, that’s the justification for the pesticides, and it’s crazy. Trees grow like weeds here, I’m constantly pulling baby trees out of places I don’t want them. They just don’t grow as fast as some folks want them to grow? What about goats … so many people have them here. Several of my friends, bet they’d be happy to lend them out.
Thanks again to this news agency for sticking with this story so thoroughly. We really appreciate it, so hard to get news here on anything important.
Private companies own about 40% of Oregon’s timberland. A recent study has revealed that the timber companies practice of clear cutting is now the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. All of these clear cuts are sprayed with toxic chemicals, some including glyphosate. At Seal Rock Oregon, one such clear cut is adjacent to the water supply for 5,500 residents. The ANE company plans to spray 473 acres here. This must stop.
I have a constitutional solution to aerial spraying. Timber and agriculture target indigenous flora, which has long term consequences for healthy indigenous species. We must use ecosystem best management principles and practices. Oregon’s constitution protects future generation’s rights for humans and nature.
We must get specific stated Rights of Nature put into Oregon Constitution. We can do it through collaboration and cooperation for common goals. Sustainable forestry and agriculture is possible with more profits for farmers and timber. Oregon go organic. Be first USA state to declare the end of contamination of Oregon’s ecosystem.
We need a state ballot initiative to ban aerial spraying statewide.
Suzanne Simard, a Canadian ecologist from a family with long history in the timber business, proved over the last 10-20 years or more that carbon capture, soil quality and timber growth of newly planted trees even after clearcutting, was best in plots that were not manually cleared or herbicide cleared of brush.
In fact, despite presence of Alder species (falsely thought as competitors) remaining after more careful management of forested plots, the research proved that superior to all other methods by providing nitrogen source and improved transfer of growth enhancing microrhizae to the newly growing seedlings, providing better output, carbon storage and better profits for timber companies that used that method.
However, not all companies have switched to the most ecological method proven best. When will we learn from science? What is ‘convenient’ and what ‘has been be always done despite destructive practices’ does not give credence to continuing their folly.
Water quality and impact of herbicides to nearby public water supply, as well to overspray of nearby landowners must not be ignored. Oregon wetlands conservation groups have worked in this Beaver Creek watershed to maintain the ecological resources for years, including kayak and hiking recreation through the area.
The EPA and other federal agencies may need to overstep Oregon’s antiquated blind approval of aerial and ground manual spray (that allows even closer proximity to water sources).
Published Source “Finding the mother tree” by Suzanne Simard. Her research in a lifetime has proven all above, along with proof of biological communication between trees even of different species, that enhance biodiversity, health and survival.
My water comes from Seal Rock Water District and we all deserve a safe source of water. The cost to human health, including increased risk of Hodgkins lymphoma is well known with Glyphosate use and many other chemicals are additional risk. What do we need to continue to risk our children’s and our lives for increased profits by large multinational timber barons, profiting in our state.
Sincerely, David Peter, MD, Waldport