HELICOPTER SPRAYING
BEGINS THIS WEEK
Private timberland owners Giustina and
Transition Management Inc. are planning to
begin aerial and ground herbicide spraying
this week west of Creswell, weather permit-
ting, but only a handful of residents in the
area appears to know about it.
“There’s no legal requirement for [resi-
dential] notification of spraying,” says Lynn
Bowers, a resident of rural Fox Hollow Road.
“The first thing you will know about it is see-
ing the helicopter coming overhead.”
Bowers says she’s been outraged about
local forest practices for a long time, but her
anger and tears weren’t accomplishing any-
thing so she chose “steely resolve” instead,
and became a self-described forest activist.
She is busy calling landowners and govern-
ment agencies, writing letters and driving her
battered Toyota sedan around tacking up
signs on phone poles and trees. One sign
reads “Dudes: Poison Spray? No Way Hose-
A. Zip it up and Fagedabouwdit!”
Bowers is concerned about the aerial
spraying of Oust, Transline, Lv6 and other
chemicals near upper Lynx Hollow Road,
and the possibility the sprays could drift or
otherwise migrate to local water supplies in
the area, including the town of Creswell two
miles away.
Written plans, maps and notifications for
the spraying were submitted early in March
to the state Department of Forestry by
Giustina Land & Timber Co. of Eugene.
Western Helicopter Services of Newberg is
listed as the spray operator. One document
declares that Hill Creek and “domestic
water systems and areas of open water
greater than one-quarter acre at the time
of this application will be buffered by
leaving a minimum
of 60 feet of un-
sprayed
vegeta-
tion.”
Robin Winfree,
who lives in the
area, says she’s
concerned for
organic grow-
ers,
open
springs used
by residents
and a horse-breeding ranch in the area.
Winfree says Giustina is “not willing to ne-
gotiate” with local residents as Roseboro
Lumber has. Giustina head forester Cary Hart
did not return a phone call by press time.
Bowers says local residents have worked
out an agreement with Roseboro to delay
spraying for at least two to three years and
use herbicides only as a “last resort.”
Oust is a general herbicide manufactured
by DuPont. It’s absorbed by both the roots
and foliage of plants and is used in reforesta-
tion before planting to kill broadleaf plants
and grasses. Oust drift from helicopter spray-
ing on 34,000 acres of burned-over BLM
rangeland was blamed for major agriculture
losses in Idaho in 2002, allegedly tainting soil
and damaging crops on 100,000 acres, ac-
cording to a story in High Country News
(7/10/02). The Oust label says the product
kills plants for one year, but Idaho farmers
claim their land will be unusable for certain
crops for up to six years.
Bowers says she spoke with a pilot from
Western Helicopter Services who told her he
was very careful, and assured her, “Don’t
worry, ma’am, we won’t drift on you.”
For
more
information
contact
daleo@efn.org
— TJT
KUCINICH: OREGON
CRUCIAL TO ELECTIONS
Despite sparse media coverage,
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis
Kucinich has been picking up delegates. In
recent primaries, he won 16 percent of the
primary vote in Maine, 17 percent in
Minnesota, about 26 percent in Alaska
and 31 percent in Hawaii. John Kerry
already has enough delegates to be the
2004 Democratic candidate, but
Kucinich has pledged to stay in the
race until the Democratic con-
vention in July to be a progres-
sive voice for millions of
Americans who have not
yet voted in primaries.
Kucinich, in Eugene
over the past weekend,
sees independent-spirited
Oregon as a crucial state.
“New Hampshire and Iowa
had key roles in selecting the
candidate,” he says, “and now Oregon can
Other central issues for Kucinich are uni-
put its stamp on the direction of the
versal health care, the repealing of the USA
Democratic Party.” Kucinich says that by
PATRIOT Act, and U.S. withdrawal from
voting for him in the May primary,
NAFTA and WTO. These trade agreements
Oregonians
can
show
the
were founded to provide cheap labor,
Democratic Party that it must lis-
according to Kucinich, and have
ten to progressive voters, in-
cost three million American
clude their views in its party
workers their jobs during the
platform, and thus give peo-
past three years.
ple a stronger reason to vote
In an interview with EW,
for Kerry and other
Kucinich said all these issues
Democrats in November.
are vitally important in Oregon,
where National Guard units are
Kucinich spoke Sunday,
being sent to Iraq, where the state
March 28, at LCC where an enthusi-
astic crowd of more than 800 Dennis Kucinich health plan is foundering because of
funding cuts, where many communities op-
clapped, shouted, and stood up cheering over
pose the PATRIOT Act, and where many
and over. Kucinich outlined his plan to bring
workers have lost their jobs. He identified
U.S. troops home from Iraq quickly. This in-
other important Oregon issues as better fund-
cludes asking the U.N. to handle the transition
ing for education, and protection of air, water,
to Iraqi self-governance, to deploy U.N. peace-
and the natural world.
keeping forces and manage Iraqi oil assets and
Responding to a question about how he
reconstruction contracts in the interim. The
stays positive and focused on his goals,
U.S. must pay for what it blew up, pay repara-
Kucinich replied, “I’m not coming from a
tions to families of killed and injured Iraqi
place of anger. There are so many forces in
civilians, help support the U.N. peacekeepers,
our society simultaneously, so the question is
and stop privatizing Iraqi industries.
Lynn Bowers
• Sounds like a couple of young bucks have been tooling around Ward 2 pulling Betty
Taylor yard signs out of the ground and hauling them off. Betty’s re-election campaign
manager Kate O’Donnell tells us about 100 signs are missing, or about half the total. Was
this just a prank by some vandals who don’t like Betty or thought they were doing her
challenger Maurie Denner a favor? It was an idiotic idea. The signs will be quickly re-
placed, and they are worth enough to make this theft a Class C felony with a potential
penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Witnesses have described in detail
the culprits and their vehicles (a maroon pick-up and a green hatchback) and a $200 re-
ward has been offered for their arrest and conviction. Contact the campaign at 344-
1946.
• The lawn sign caper reminds us of the reported snatching of
stacks of EW papers from red boxes following publication of
our cover story March 18 on the sheriff’s deputies’ wild party.
No more witnesses have come forward so we counted pa-
pers left over last week when new papers were delivered.
No noticeable drop in our return rate in downtown Eugene,
Andrea
but many Springfield boxes and racks were cleaned out.
Ortiz
Popular issue northeast of the river, for whatever reason. Only
about 200 papers were left out of nearly 6,000 delivered. We’re
keeping a stack of this collector’s edition in our offices. Come get
’em.
8 APRIL 1, 2004
• Andrea Ortiz is challenging incumbent Scott Meisner in Ward 7 and Andrea has been a bit
of an enigma regarding her views on environmental and land use issues. She appears to be
getting her environmental ducks in a row. She says she supports fully funding Eugene’s
Toxics Right to Know program. She will continue to be active in fighting industrial pollution
and cleaning up the rail yards in her ward. She is opposed to the West Eugene Parkway out
of concern for wetlands, and favors alternative transportation. She wants enhanced pro-
tections for Eugene’s municipal watersheds and calls for restoring natural areas in Alton
Baker Park. She wants to maintain our existing urban growth boundary. She favors an in-
crease in recycling, expanding system development charges and “development of a city-
wide plan to reduce contamination in our streams and rivers by limiting pesticide use.”
These positions, complementing her background in local education and human rights,
make her a viable candidate. Scott started off well, but he’s been slipping. The Oregon
League of Conservation Voters gave him a 10 percent rating for the past two years, down
from 78 percent several years ago.
• The Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce has predictably endorsed pro-sprawl candi-
dates for upcoming council and mayor races. The chamber just doesn’t get it. Unfettered
growth might generate short-term profits and jobs for construction industries, but it’s un-
sustainable and in the long run damaging to our economy. Our future prosperity is linked
more to quality of life than to concrete. And by taking these narrow stands, the chamber is
alienating a big chunk of what should be its constituency and membership — small busi-
nesses that place high value on the livability and unique character of our community.