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Spray letter from Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance
Fortis, BC, Canadian Pacific Railway and Ministry of Forests Re: Pest Management Plan for Southern Interior Please be advised the membership of the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance is shocked to learn that the use of chemicals in and around where we live and in particular close to our domestic use watersheds, our rivers and streams that are used for recreation. The Alliance has members from Crescent Valley to Hills in the north. Further we are not restricted to where we live but use the province for travel and recreation. Our membership does not accept the risk that you are taking by using chemicals in your management plans. All the access areas that you, as corporations and the government are responsible for should be managed without pesticides and/or herbicides. The West Kootenays is one of the wettest areas in the province and part of the Interior Temperate Rainforest. Global warming predictions state that we will be receiving increased rainfall and storm intensity affecting runoff. Your management plan is an unhealthy and unsafe plan and is not acceptable to those of us who live with the risks you are choosing to expose us to. The use of pesticides and herbicides only meters from water sources does not protect the water. It is clear that protecting watersheds would solve the problem of "access" and other problems arising from cutting watersheds. This management plan is exactly why the Alliance does not support logging in our watersheds and the "need" you cite for use comes from logging watersheds. Denmark imposed a ban on the spraying of glyphosate as of Sept.15th, 2003, following the reach data, which found that glyphosate; the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide was contaminating drinking water resources in the country. (Jessen) Of nine herbicides tested for toxicity to soil micro-organisms, glyphosate was found to be the second most toxic to a range of bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and yeasts. In Australia, most formulations of glyphosate have been banned from use in or near water. Further to measure meters on the surface does not take into consideration the below ground drainage or small seeps known to exist throughout the Slocan Valley. Hydrologists will tell you that much of the water that drains into the rivers and lakes is subsurface. The steep wet mountains and the close proximity to large rivers and lakes where smaller creeks and streams feed also indicate that a plan for management must NOT include chemicals. These waterways are not simply domestic use watersheds but many communities are working to restore fisheries in these waterways. The risk of contaminated sediment entering into their habitat is not acceptable pest management. As for being proposed for use by Health Canada we only need look at the
history of drugs proposed and withdrawn after the tragic outcome of using
drugs such as Thalidomide to know that Health Canada does make fatal and
long lasting errors in its decisions. It is time that governments and
corporations who have the privilege of using public lands for profit err
on the side of caution and ban the use of chemicals for the safety of
the public. The long term affects of these chemicals has not been well We note you refer to "guidelines". As a long-standing citizens group we know that guidelines are not legislated and therefore are not enforceable which leaves the public at risk. There is no way that your management plans will protect the public. Public lands are to be "managed" for the public and the public's health and safety must come first. Pesticides and herbicides are band-aid solutions for the mismanagement of land and certainly indicate the price the public must pay for wrongful logging of watersheds. Your management plans for access demonstrates why there should be no development in domestic use watersheds. Our letter refers mostly to the Ministry of Forests, however any right of way and access that is within the Regional District should also be part of a "chemical free zone." We would therefore request that the Regional District support the citizens' health and safety as these right of ways and access areas affect all the land within their district. The Regional District is aware of the Perry Ridge situation and its unstable terrain. A landslide that carries with it herbicides and pesticides into the creeks adds to the already existing risk. Many landslides in the Kootenays have affected power lines and road right of ways where water carried with these landslides have ended up in the mass that has come down and ended up in a river or lake and in some cases right through peoples' homes. (Passmore slide took out power poles and ended up in the Slocan River. The Allendale slide outside of Castlegar took out power and the highway and dumped tons of debris into the lake) The debris under your proposed management would contain chemicals that end up in major water bodies. The BC Liberals' new Bill 53 no longer requires pesticide use permits. Instead, it allows corporate pesticide users write their own five-year pest management plans, which do not have to be vetted or approved by any branch of government. This Bill allows the government to put citizens at risk with no recourse. Further, members of the public can no longer go to the Environmental Appeal Board: since there is no approval process - i.e., no government decision being made on these pest management plans and therefore there is technically no decision to be appealed. The above Bill adds to the dilemma of how the Regional District and the citizens themselves can protect the private land and citizens' health and safety when the impact comes from the use of Crown Land. Pesticides and herbicides, just like the water, recognizes no boundaries and affect both private and public land. Clean manual brushing is the option that would create employment and ensure that the public's health and safety are not put at risk. There is no assurance that your plan is safe and will not put citizens' health and safety at risk. The Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance opposes your short-sited and risky plan to use chemicals. Yours truly, SLOCAN VALLEY WATERSHED ALLIANCE Marilyn Burgoon Cc: Regional District of Central Kootenays |