PESTICIDE ISSUES MEETING
September 20, 1997
Orleans, California
Karuk Tribal Center
Opening Remarks and Prayer - Leaf Hillman, Environmental Director, Karuk Tribe
Introductions:
US Environmental Protection Agency
Nancy Frost
Annie Yeats
California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Paul Gosselin
Kean Goh
CalTrans
Bob Melendez
Kathy Sartorius
Thom Niesen
County Agricultural Commissioners
Smokey Thornhill, Siskiyou County
Jim Buckles, Del Norte County
Paul Holzberger, Humboldt County
US Forest Service
John Larson, Lower Trinity Ranger District
Carmen Galindo, CIBA, Yaqui
Karuk Community
Paula L. McCarthy
Laverne Glaze
Renee' Stauffer
Sandi Tripp
Millie Black-Graber
Kristen King
Margi Houston
Mavis S. McCovey
Crow Munk
Leaf Hillman
Susan Burdick, Yurok/Karuk
Ora Smith
Kathy Wallace, Karuk/Yurok/Hoopa
Leo Carpenter Jr., Hupa
Smith River Rancheria
Candace Y. Penney, Tolowa
Environmental Consultant to Tribes
Chuck Striplen, Mutarin Ohlone
Listing of Issues and Concerns:
Where/when the roads were sprayed, what was sprayed, what is the life cycle of the sprays?
How far on each side of road does spray reach? How much drift?
Difficult to obtain accurate information from agencies
Who to call about SAFE gathering in specific areas
What type of chemicals are sprayed on roadways? Do they sample roadside water for contamination?
Who says what/how much is harmful?
Is monitoring done?
What are alternatives to pesticide use?
Consider burning instead of spraying.
Concerned about runoff in our area, mountains - it's all downhill.
What happens when sprayed materials are burned?
Firewood use
Fire fighter's exposure
How do pesticides effect wildlife/meat? Finding sores on deer, spots on deer liver.
Plants sprayed but not killed - does it change the plant?, No longer healthy?
How much pesticide is "in the plant"? Remains in Indian Tea materials?
What impact do pesticide have on alder?
Pesticide 2-4-5-T was used extensively here in the 1960 & 70's
Why was it taken off the Market?
Why were people not advised of the risks?
No money available for families to correct problems it caused?
Where were the agencies then?
Private company's pesticide use:
What's used? How?
Who decides what they can use?
Who do you go to when private companies don't/won't cooperate with local people's concerns?
Concern about the impact downslope when private timber companies use pesticides, the community needs to know: when, what in order to protect itself
How to prevent/reduce use by private companies
How to get advance notices
Spill example - need to develop protocols, known and used by all
Why use pesticides at all? Why get rid of foliage?
Salmon River Road spraying report incident:
-Problems getting information or response
-Who to talk to?
-No advance notice of spraying in "protected" area
-Told the substance (being sprayed from bridge) was "safe" for aquatic life
-No consideration of alternative ways of clearing brush from bridge abutments
How to report suspected violations? Get information about questionable activities?
How to develop working partnerships - agencies with tribes? Develop alternatives to pesticide use?
Agency resource peoples response:
Paul Gosselin, CDPR, provided an overview of pesticides and their intended use, i.e.; to control manage, kill pests (plant & insect)
Federal & state regulatory agencies registers substances and specifies how and where they may be used. They also evaluate the potential for adverse impact. One challenge is to balance toxicity and exposure.
Nancy Frost, US EPA:
Fed's are now mandated to re-evaluate the impact of pesticide use on "special populations", especially elderly and children.
Native Americans were added to special population list, since they are exposed in ways not considered in original studies (basket materials example)
EPA now considering exposure from all sources, not just food.
Thom Neisen, Caltrans District Maintenance Manager:
Caltrans has not applied chemicals locally (Hwy 96) since 1983 or longer in certain local areas, in response to concerns of tribes and other citizens
In response to a request from the Mendocino and Humboldt Board's of Supervisors, Caltrans has agreed to refrain from applying pesticides to state maintained roads within each county's un-incorporated areas. This agreement is to be reviewed each year on a July to July basis.
Exceptions to the agreement: the incorporated city of Fortuna wants Caltrans to continue spraying the section of the 101 freeway that runs through the city.
Locally people may see spraying on areas of Hwy 299 (outside Humboldt Co. and north on roads in Siskiyou Co.)
Bob Melendez, Caltrans, commented that the spray water used to reduce dust while operating sweeping/cleaning machinery might mistakenly be taken for pesticide spraying. No chemicals are used, only water. Some roadside landscaping is watered at times, but no pesticides are applied.
Drift issues in roadside spraying: the improvement of nozzle/droplet size technology has greatly reduced drift. In addition, the pesticides are now mixed at the nozzle when applied, eliminating the need to transport large quantities of chemicals and reducing spills and exposure for workers.
All employees who handle pesticides are trained and certified in the safe/legal application procedures.
Caltrans pesticide use is monitored by the County Agricultural Commissioners, just like every other user.
Communication with Caltrans about any pesticide concern:
Bob Melendez 707-445-6391
Spray information recording 1-800-999-1053
Kathy Sartorius, Tribal Caltrans liaison, 707-441-5815
How to get involved:
District Roadside Vegetation Management Advisory Committee (DRVMAC) is a group of local people working on these issues with Caltrans. Evonne Bones is the representative of local tribes and Patty Clary of Californians Against Toxic Spraying (CATS) is on the committee. Meeting are open to the public and there is a time for audience input. The next meeting is in Klamath on November 20, for more info contact Bob Melendez.
Paul Gosselin, CDPR, Label language, enforcement of application specifications:
Labels on pesticides contain the limitations imposed by the regulatory agencies (EPA & CDPR) on the application and use of these chemicals.
"Run off" limitations are listed and conditions under which the chemical is allowed to be applied.
CDPR is developing new requirements regarding run off and contaminating water sources based on studies
Toxicity levels in water are based on the health of the water flea , which is very sensitive to the quality of the water.
Kathy Sartorius, Caltrans, Traditional Cultural Places Registry
It is now possible to protect tribal ceremonial sites, sacred sites, village sites, and traditional gathering sites by registering them.
A copy of Bulletin # 38 describing this process will be included in the mailing.
Nancy Frost, EPA, Responding to a Question from Chuck Striplen regarding provisions in the Clean Air Act about the use of pesticides? Nancy will research and provide information. Local tribes are working an grants from the act.
Jim Buckles, Del Norte County Agriculture Commissioner, Why pesticides are used by timber companies:
Used in clear cut areas for "conifer release" - reduce the competition from quick growing vegetation, such as alder and ceneophus
Usually applied in the spring, about a 3 week period
Spraying allows conifers to reach a harvestable size 15 years earlier (when not be shaded by quick growing species)
Crow Munk, Karuk Tribe Member, provided a very moving and emotional account of the loss suffered by his family and other community members as a result of the intense spraying of 2-4-5-T on the local forests in the 60's & 70's. He detailed the impact and personal loss of two "mole" pregnancies suffered by his wife. He gave an account of his long fight and ultimate settlement from Dow Chemical Co. He asked the agency people, "What part on NO don't you understand?", referring to NO USE OF PESTICIDES!
He continues to be concerned about the possible continued contamination of the water in the area.
There was a considerable amount of discussion about fears and concerns about safe drinking water and about monitoring of water quality especially in streams down hill from private timber companies spraying.
Concerns needing to be addressed:
How to get access to water monitoring reports related to pesticide use, historical data.
No cost testing of private and public water sources
How to get involved in timber harvest plan approval process which includes timber companies planned use of pesticides in re-forestation.
What help can Indian Health Service provide, do they have any water testing information?
Local involvement in CDPR's plan to educate/train local health care professionals in diagnosing pesticide related illness and reporting it.
Kean Goh, CDPR, gave an overview of the Forestry Herbicide Residue Study conducted in Lassen, Eldorado, Sierra and Stanislaus National Forests. (a written report was provided) Concerns were expressed by tribal members that much of the study area was different from the Klamath basin, especially the amount of rainfall and steeper terrain.
Kean requested help in forming a local group compose of community/tribal experts/volunteers to identify and prioritize target sites, environmental media and plant sources for potential monitoring and analysis for pesticide residues.
The meeting closed with hope that working partnerships between Tribes/community and the agencies will be strengthened
and ongoing (versus on & off again). It was recognized that all the issues identified by the community were
not addresses in this meeting.
Everyone expressed appreciation for the hospitality of the Karuk Tribe in providing the meeting space and preparing the food enjoyed by all.