STOP this life-killing practice and move to MOWING once and for all! -- No one is arguing about Caltrans's responsibility to maintain roads for fire protection -- but if it is done in a way that poisons people, animals, water and nature then it is no longer "protection" or an acceptable solution, it is like "curing" cancer with a bullet

I'd like to know if there's a petition for Menlo Park? Or where to start one?

After all the requests that Caltrans manage the vegetation without toxic herbicides, it is difficult to understand why they continue to broadcast spray these poisons. Spraying for pre-emergent weeds with herbicides that remain toxic for months in the soil (and YEARS in water) is unacceptable. On the county level, the board of supervisors has banned this practice, yet Caltrans continues.

I don't want these chemicals in my well water. I don't want them poisoning wildlife. I don't want them creating the next generation of super weeds.

There is a petition, if you haven't signed already:

Web Link

Enough, Beth, Skyline Mom, lets get real.

Chemicals are not inherently bad. In fact, pesticides [herbicides insecticides fungicides] have insured millions of people have had enough to eat and not died horrible deaths for the past 100 years.

That stuff they are spraying along the shoulders of the roads literally, wont kill a fly. You react as if you are nude sunbathing an the truck pulls up and drenches you in the stuff. You want to be able to eat the berries from the side of the road. I wouldnt, I would pick them from the 10's of thousands of other acres in the county that are not along the edge of the road.

Now Caltrans has said if you put up your silly "dont spray" sign they wont spray in front of your property. Great. But thats not good enough for you because you want to impose your morality on ALL of the residents of SM County, because you are smarter than the rest of us. Knock it off! I want the area sprayed in front of my house sprayed because of fire. Do you realize that when you mow, you create a chance that very mower will strike up a fire [its happened to me because steel blades vs rocks equals sparks]. But I guess thats ok with you because you rent anyway.

I hope caltrans gives in and quits spraying the shoulders out there. And when the fire starts [remember last month] you will probably blame them for mis management. All this while you drive over the hill daily.

Crazy crazy world or maybe im nuts? But im sure you'll state your credentials and all the schooling you've had about this 20 years ago and discredit my opinion as being less valuable than yours. Cheers

Much of what's sprayed and dumped in the environment does not go away and combines with other chemicals to form an unhealthy soup in the air, in the water and on the surface. It reminds me of a moive about The Simpsons - Homer not OJ.

Reality check, Thank you for your post. It is important to have all side represented in a good discussion. And I’m sure that you are not truly wishing for Skyline Mom’s house to burn down just to prove that chemicals are the only option. Neighbors are far too respectful and caring up here for that.

I do hope that this local issue is not large enough to attract Dow Chemical and Monsanto funded trolls, however.

Caltrans did manage the vegetation with non-toxic methods for a period of time. They managed it well and they did not start any fires. Currently CDF has been doing an excellent job of clearing lots of brush along the roads.

Since Caltrans is spraying for pre-emergent weeds at this point, they will probably be spraying Milestone VM (from their list of herbicides they have sprayed on the Skyline area in the past.)

I don't have a degree in chemistry, but I am capable of reading an MSDS, so that is what I did.

Milestone VM
Milestone’s active ingredient is aminopyralid. This was found to persist in soil with a half-life of up to 550 days (well over a year.) It was found in compost and stunted many crops and was then banned in the UK and in some states in the US (but not California.) The half-life in water 990 is days (almost 3 years.) That is plenty of time for it to percolate into the aquifer and affect many of us drinking well water as well as wild life. If I can’t safely water my garden with it, I don’t want to drink it.

Also from the product’s own MSDS:
"There are no requested uses for aminopyralid that are considered residential and neither handler nor post-application residential exposures from uses around homes are expected to occur."

We may not have a heavily populated area, but it is residential to the people who live here.

The chemical's label requires restricted entry for 12 hours. If anyone is to re-enter before that time, they are to wear coveralls and waterproof chemical-resistant gloves. I have never seen anything posted to warn hikers or bicyclists of this danger. One could stop to change a tire and be heavily exposed to this.

I must admit that I do want to live in that Utopian world of my childhood, where one could eat a wild blackberry and not ingest poison.

Other chemicals that Caltrans has published that they have sprayed up here: Roundup—a probable carcinogen, banned in many countries, implicated in high birth defects in agricultural workers and in non-Hodkins lymphoma, found in urine and water samples at high concentrations.
Accord, Payload, Matrix SG, EsplAnade 200SC

The Netherlands. The Netherlands have banned roundup. There's a bread basket for you.

Look, the pre emergent de jour for Caltrans is Surflan (aka Simazine). The way pre emergents work is you spray them on soil and they get washed into the soil during the first rains. Here's the magic. Following the rain the travel into the soil where the lock onto bio material like SEEDS. When the seed germinates, the material transfers onto the weak and vulnerable mono or dicoyolyfon and kill it. It takes good timing to make this work. Sometimes Caltrans will even follow their spray truck with a water tanker if a rain prediction is far off.

So it is preferable this stuff last a while in the soil. It's where it does its job.

But yes, it is wise not to do s lot of hanging out on the shoulder of a highway like your momma probably told you. its not safe for a lot of reasons. But one car leaking a quart ethelyne glycol does far more damage than miles of this stuff being sprayed along our shoulders does. Not to mention gasoline, diesel and motor oil.

Still believe this is over reaction to something that is so easily called poison when it's such a small blip to so much other pollutants we care to ignore. It's because it is so easy to get emotional which takes the place of reason on this subject. I.e. If you are for this type of weed control you are for harming my babies.

And of course, I would not like to see a fire, just trying to make a point.

We don't need a "pilot" program. We already know from several other communities that manual weed control works very well without polluting the environment.

What ever happened to just pulling weeds like back in the 50's? Are we too spoiled for that? Along my road we pull the bigger weeds, and let the deer eat the smaller ones. I leave milkweed until it dries to keep habitat for monarch butterflies, then cut it and compost it. We don't need to pollute our creeks, lands, children, pets, and any wildlife anymore. I've seen hive collapse in beekeeping areas due to over use of Roundup. Please!

Hi again Reality Check,

Thank you for the information on Caltrans’ current herbicide usage. Surflan was not in the information they provided last year. A quick search did not show me any references to Caltrans’ use of Surflan, do you mind posting your source?

Also, thank you for letting us know that Caltrans follows their broadcast spray trucks with a water tanker. In the past they have actually delayed their spraying (even for pre-emergent weeds) due to rain in the forecast. Could you also let me know what your reference is for this? It would be incredibly helpful.

Surflan actually sounds just as bad or worse than Milestone. According to the labeling:

• toxic to fish
• 24-hour ban for reentry
• dispose of any clothing that comes in contact with Surflan, do not clean or reuse
• do not graze or feed forage from treated areas to livestock
• do not use Surflan A.S. on soils containing more than 5% organic matter

And an NIH paper describes it as a xenoestrogen.

Web Link

We agree on one thing—I am emotional. Having this stuff sprayed by my house and staying active in my soil and water scares the heck out of me.

Since you are from around here (right?), you must know that if there is daylight, there are people on the shoulders of 84 and 35. It is a major recreational area for bikers and hikers.

Yes, there are other dangers in the world. But the issue here is herbicides and the fact that there is an excellent and proven alternative. Why risk it?

I urge Caltrans to use the healthier alternative of mowing for all of Highway 84 instead of a select section. That is not good enough. We need to protect our precious environment and all the people,and critters that inhabit the affected areas.

Herbicides are not necessary and are dangerous to the health of the community. The is particularly the case since other non-toxic remedies are available and proven to be effective

I live on acreage in these mountains. I manage weeds and brush by mowing and removing by hand (and introducing desirable species to take of the space that weeds would otherwise occupy. It's pretty simple and I'm managing fire danger and not introducing toxins into the watershed.

Very..simple...

CalTrans can do the same. That's their job.