< 8 To spray or not to spray?
way in other water districts and agencies that have their own vegetation managecording to a draft of the plan, “a single ment plans. Many agencies already use species, French broom, is spreading at the herbicides, including the California State rate of at least 30 acres per year.” Parks, Caltrans, the Golden Gate National Using what the district calls limited Recreation Area and the Point Reyes Naamounts of herbicides will greatly improve the battle against the broom species. tional Seashore. Herbicide opponents say scientific And it will improve the bottom line of a district that has seen constricting budgets. evidence has been mounting that the chemicals are harmful. Weed control with no But an equal amount herbicides would cost of conflicting scientific LEARN ALL ABOUT IT about $5.6 million a year, evidence has shown that The Marin Municipal Water according to the draft District will hold a meeting the herbicide glyphosate, plan. Using limited apto discuss the scope of the the active ingredient plications of conventional environmental review at 7pm in Roundup, poses no herbicides would cost Nov. 15 in the San Rafael City real threat. Glyphosate about $1.6 million a year. Hall Council Chambers, 1400 is arguably the most Even that lower amount is Fifth Avenue. benign of the herbicides well beyond the district’s Written suggestions should commonly used to concurrent vegetation manbe submitted to Dain Andertrol invasive plants and agement budget of about son, environmental services it’s the one receiving the coordinator, Marin Municipal $875,000 per year. most attention in Marin. Water District, 220 Nellen The stark fact remains: Avenue, Corte Madera 94925. Frank Egger, the No matter what option is Submissions may be in PDF former longtime Fairfax chosen after the environformat less than 10 megamayor and councilmental report is complete, bytes size and emailed to man, played a major the district has insuffiwphipeior@marinwater.org. role in rallying his town cient funds to eradicate The deadline for comments behind the move to the invasive species. To is 4pm Dec. 3. block herbicide use in maximize the money it the watershed, a strategy does have, the district district officials say has has zoned the watershed. Each zone would receive varying levels of been ineffective. Egger disagrees. He says that that the eradication treatment, from doing nothing in areas that are a lost cause to full engage- threat of wildfire is exaggerated. He bement where it makes ecological, safety and lieves Marin firefighters have the capability to battle fires that may erupt among financial sense. the invasives or sweep through their Zone One comprises 87 percent of the territory. He also says that herbicides like watershed and is the least disturbed acreglyphosate should never be used, espeage. It includes numerous populations of cially in a watershed. rare and endangered species of plants and Egger and Dr. Bill Rothman played animals. Protecting that habitat will become increasingly important as the effects leading roles in the Marin Safe Drinking Water Coalition’s move to convince the of climate change take hold in California. district’s board to stop using herbicides in The management plan calls for taking the 2005. Rothman says the coalition is ready most widespread effort to eradicate invato reactivate if necessary. The scoping sives in this zone, which is most removed period for the environmental report is the from habitation. first step in a process that will move to The zones progress down to Zone 5, a limited action zone. According to the plan, a draft environmental report and then a final certified report next year. this zone is about 3 percent of the waterSpending money on the environmental shed. “The zone is characterized by little to no maintenance or operational activity. report is a waste, says Rothman. “If they come up using pesticides, the public will Ecosystem functions are degraded, invacrush them like a bug.” Rothman says the sive weeds often are the dominant plants in the area, and there are few to no rare or coalition is prepared to collect signatures to place an initiative on the ballot otherwise significant species present.” Bethat would mandate using only certified cause eliminating the invasives in Zone 5 organic methods to control the invasives. would be difficult or impossible and conBut district officials say they know of no sume valuable budget dollars, these areas organic application that can successfully would receive the least attention. beat back the invasives. The group will The possibility of using herbicides in a begin campaigning if, after release of the vegetation management plan has ignited opposition from residents who oppose the draft environmental report, it looks as though the district plans to proceed with use of pesticides almost as a philosophithe herbicide alternative. cal construct. On the opposite side of the The coalition knows how to mount a debate are those who say the threat of wildfire must be weighed heavily in a cost- political campaign. It played a big part in benefit analysis. The two sides are unlikely blocking the water district’s plan to build a desalination plant to provide insurance to reach consensus. And that doesn’t even include a group most concerned with bio- against drought. Rothman already has brought up points diversity. The same type of debate is under 10 PACIFIC SUN NOVEMBER 9 - NOVEMBER 15, 2012
that will be in the environmental report. He says the district should review a study it commissioned on glyphosate that was done at UC Davis. The study showed that the chemical remained on plants at full strength at 88 days, at which point the study was stopped. He says the district should review the findings and determine how long the chemical would remain on the plants at what strength after 88 days. Some studies show that glyphosate stays on plants, and when plant leaves fall to the ground, particles including glyphosate can wash into the soil and into water. But other studies refute those findings and say glyphosate is a relatively benign chemical. According to an Environmental Protection Agency bulletin, “Glyphosate adsorbs strongly to soil and is not expected to move vertically below the six inch soil layer; residues are expected to be immobile in soil. Soil microbes readily degrade glyphosate.” The EPA also determined that there are minimal effects from glyphosate on birds, mammals, fish and invertebrates. But other studies suggest the contrary and call for reduced use of the chemical. Rothman says it’s appropriate for the environmental report to review the literature that paints a more benign picture of herbicide use as well as the literature that condemns it in order for the district to make an informed decision. He wants the district to review as much recent scientific literature as possible as part of the environmental review. The district has plans to do just that. Rothman mentions one widely publicized 2005 study by Rick Relyea of the University of Pittsburgh that raised the possibility that glyphosate could harm, even kill, amphibians, frogs and tadpoles. That could lead to an explosion of mosquitoes and trigger outbreaks of West Nile virus, says Rothman, a retired physician. In a presentation to the Canadian Weed Society, Dean Thompson of Natural Resources Canada, refuted the Relyea study. Thompson said the study used unrealistic doses and exposures that skewed results. But at that same presentation, Thompson cautioned that more research is needed.
The conflicting studies reflect the nature of scientific inquiry and its process. It doesn’t make it easy to decide when to use a chemical like glyphosate and when to refrain. Still, the current general consensus among watershed managers and roadside agencies like Caltrans is that glyphosate is a relatively safe chemical that, when used in a professional manner, will control weeds with as little environmental damage as possible. And when balanced against the possible danger of a wildfire sweeping down Mt. Tam, the cost benefit gets serious, say proponents of herbicide use. About 45,000 people live near the boundary of the watershed. Rothman says the district could use mechanical and hand labor methods to control the invasives more effectively than the latest version of the management plan shows. He says that included in the 2009 vegetation management report, consultants for the district estimated that the current balance of invasives could be maintained if the district were to spend $1,765,850 per year on non-chemical methods. That option is missing, Rothman notes, from the latest version of alternatives. He thinks if district customers were presented a choice between herbicide use and a mechanical strategy that creates a stalemate with the invasives, they would choose the stalemate option even though it would increase the district’s budget. The district serves 61,266 connections. Spreading the cost to stalemate the invasives would come to an additional $14.50 per connection each year. The debate over whether to act and what method to use to control or eradicate the invasives is made more urgent when considering that the watershed is home to 900 plant species and at least 400 species of vertebrate animals, as well as many more species of fungi and invertebrates, says the district. Large parts of the watershed are undisturbed and connected to other open space tracts, providing critical migration corridors and refuge. UNESCO included the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed as one of the 13 significant areas of the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve in 1988. < Contact the writer at peter@pseidman.com
< 8 Newsgrams And, finally, Prop. 40’s veto referendum on the 2010 state Senate redistricting map won with 71 percent of the vote (81 percent in Marin).
Tickets on sale for Heroes of Marin awards Imagine yourselves in one of Bay Area’s first-rate dining rooms, hobnobbing with some of the highest achievers in the county, and mingling with staff members from the most-read newspaper in Marin. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But first there’s the Pacific Sun’s Heroes of Marin awards banquet. On Nov. 15, the Pacific Sun, in partnership with Circle Bank, is presenting our second annual Heroes of Marin awards—a salute to the community members whose dedication to bettering the lives of county residents has helped make Marin the special place it is today. This year’s honorees include Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey; independent filmmaker John Korty; Film Night in the Park founder Tom Boss; San Rafael Clean Campaign champion Andree Jansheski; the innovative folks at Marin Sanitary Service; Performing Stars of Marin founder Felecia Gaston; and San Marin High School student and volunteer-extraordinaire Ana Camara-Flores. Our 2012 lifetime achievement award is going to longtime San Rafael Mayor Al Boro. 11 >