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PANUPS: Roadside Herbicide Spraying
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P A N U P S
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Pesticide Action Network
North America
Updates Service
http://www.panna.org/panna/
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May 5, 1997
Groups Stop Caltrans Herbicide Spraying
California's transportation agency, Caltrans, manages 230,000
acres of roadsides situated along 15,000 miles of state
highways. The agency spends $30 million each year maintaining
roadside vegetation, most of it on the application of weed-
killing herbicides. Rural grassroots activists recently
prevailed against this colossal agency in their long fight to
stop pesticide applications on public highways. Eight hundred
miles of California highways are now herbicide-free.
Communities in the rural northwest corner of California
scored a big win in their quarter-century battle for
herbicide-free public roads when Caltrans announced in March
1997 that it would halt spraying on highways in the region at
the behest of local governments.
With 230,000 acres of roadside under its management, Caltrans
has long been the largest single user of synthetic pesticides
in the state. However on March 17, officials in District 1 --
covering Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties --
announced they will stop spraying wherever local governments
request it.
Two weeks later, Humboldt County Supervisors voted
unanimously for non-toxic roadsides, joining elected
officials in Mendocino County and the city of Arcata. Only
one community, Fortuna, opted to keep highway spraying.
Residents of the rugged, sparsely populated north coast of
California have mobilized against spraying of herbicides --
initially 2,4-D and simazine, more recently Roundup and
diuron -- on roadsides since 1972. Most counties and cities
in the area gave up herbicides for roadside weed control
during the 1980's in response to intense pressure from local
opponents.
But Caltrans persisted until 1989 when Californians for
Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) -- a clearinghouse for
community anti-toxic groups scattered throughout northern
California -- organized 23 groups in 14 counties to sue under
state environmental law. To avoid litigation, Caltrans agreed
to halt spraying in the district while it wrote an
environmental report.
Six years later, District 1 resumed full-scale spraying and
the reaction was intense. Within a year, several vocal
grassroots groups sprang up. Neighbors Against Herbicides,
Poison Free, Toxic Outcry and others joined forces with
established organizations Center for Ethics and Toxics, Lake
County HEAL, Mendocino Environmental Center and Friends of
Del Norte. CATs was a resource for information, networking
and regional strategy.
By early 1997 rallies were occurring somewhere almost weekly,
and more than 4,000 people had signed petitions. Protests
escalated dramatically in the month preceding Caltrans'
policy reversal. Several well-attended rallies were held at
sites located hundreds of miles apart, then the arrest of
four protesters who blocked a spray truck galvanized
resisters region wide; many vowed to do the same. The actions
helped generate high-profile media coverage. Representatives
to the state legislature took a strong position in defense of
local determination.
Caltrans submitted this time when it realized that the issue
transcended traditional community divisions and had gained
broad support. Opponents included Indian tribes (one demanded
an end to spraying on reservation highways), loggers, parents
of schoolchildren, tourism promoters, rural mail deliverers,
farmers, disabled and immune-compromised people, health
practitioners and thousands of others who rarely, if ever,
consider themselves hard-core environmentalists.
As conservative Humboldt County supervisor Bonnie Neely put
it, "This is a roadside vegetation management problem to
Caltrans -- but to the people of this county it is a health
issue. The county doesn't spray its roadsides and neither
should the state."
In its long-awaited environmental report which was published
in 1992, Caltrans proposed a snail-paced schedule of a 50%
reduction in herbicide use by the year 2000 and an 80%
reduction by 2012. The agency claims to have reduced its use
of herbicides by 34% statewide since then, mainly by
narrowing the width of the area defoliated on highway
shoulders.
To help steer its way into a less toxic future, Caltrans
recently published a several hundred thousand dollar report
on alternative vegetation control and is currently building
an extensive, site-specific data-base about native plants,
one of the most promising options to replace chemicals.
Nevertheless, the sprawling agency has been slow to employ
alternatives. In several districts, herbicides are still
applied at a rate of several pounds per acre each year -- and
overall only a handful of local managers are aware of non-
chemical vegetation control options.
Although Caltrans' local determination policy is currently
limited to northwestern California, it could have broad
implications for anti-toxics activists in other areas of the
state.
Source: CATs, April 17, 1997; Center for Ethics and Toxics,
April 8, 1997; The Crop Duster, April 1997.
Contacts: Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, 860 1/2
11th Street, Arcata, CA
95521; phone (707) 822-8497; email cats@igc.org.
Center for Ethics and Toxics, 39175 S. Highway One, P.O. Box
673, Gualala, CA 95445; phone (707) 884-1700; fax (707) 884-
1846; cetos@cetos.org.
Toxic Outcry, P.O. Box 211, Comptche, CA 95427; phone (707)
937-1140; fax (707) 937-4250; gkrouse@mcn.org.
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