BY CARL SEGERSTROM
THE SPRAY
NEAR YOU
Pesticide spray information
at your fingertips
S
tarting in the early ’90s, Gary Hale and his wife, Jan
Wroncy, who died in 2016, tracked herbicide sprays
in Lane County. Concerns about herbicides travel-
ling via waterways or drifting onto their property
led the family to research potential spray sites and
subscribe to a mail-in, pay-for-information system run by the
Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).
As of this summer, the work Hale has been doing for
more than two decades no longer requires the painstaking
research or fees. Pressure from environmental advocates and
a willingness by ODF to work with concerned citizens has
led to a new and free online system to track forest activities
including herbicide sprays.
The new Forest Activity Electronic Reporting and Noti-
fication System (FERNS) system allows anyone with inter-
net access the ability to research and set up notifications for
planned forestry activities in areas they care about.
Under the old system, Hale and Wroncy subscribed to
specific plots of forestland for $5 dollars each and received
information in the mail about planned sprays in these areas.
For years the couple reported the planned sprays in a col-
umn for EW that informs readers about upcoming herbicide
sprays.
Hale says they paid nearly $300 a year to keep themselves
and the community up-to-date on planned sprays.
In recent years, stories of poisonings from aerial sprays
have grabbed headlines and cast a shadow over the forest in-
dustry in Oregon. Lincoln County voters approved an aerial
spray ban in May (see “Aerial Spray Ban” EW 7/15). Pe-
titioners are gathering signatures for a similar ban in Lane
County.
The FERNS system gives contractors that use herbicides
a six-month window to conduct approved spray operations.
The forestry industry points to the operational challenges of
predicting conditions, such as wind affecting aerial sprays, as
a reason for having the half-year windows.
Advocates have challenged the duration of the windows,
arguing that it doesn’t give neighboring property owners
timely warning of potential sprays.
Proposed Senate Bill 892, which died in committee in the
last legislative session, would have required aerial herbicide
sprayers to file reports within 15 days after spraying.
“We want to know exactly where they sprayed and exact-
ly what they used,” says Lisa Arkin, executive director of Be-
yond Toxics. “If, as they say, everything is according to the
law and nobody ever drifts and all their chemicals are safe,
then they should have no problem reporting what they did.”
Ted Reiss, timberlands manager for Seneca Jones, argued
against the bill. He says that Seneca Jones already voluntarily
provides information to neighbors and that the system would
place an additional and unnecessary burden on companies in
terms of paperwork.
One of the reasons for better reporting after a spray is that
it would help people know exactly what was sprayed near
their property. Many of the planned sprays reported in the
FERNS system list five or more different chemicals to be
used for a single spray.
“It’s important to know the exact chemicals,” Arkin says.
“We know so much more now about what these chemicals do
now than what we knew 10 years ago.”
Arkin says the issue isn’t necessarily the specific toxicity
of a single herbicide used by the companies, but the long-
term toxicity of the mixture of chemicals being used.
While most toxicity tests measure the lethal toxicity of a
chemical, there are few studies looking at the risks of long-
term exposure to low levels of pesticides and the interactions
between multiple pesticides, she says.
Atrazine, one of the most controversial pesticides com-
monly sprayed in Oregon forests, is banned by the European
Union. The chemical has been shown to affect the hormones
of amphibians. A UC Berkeley study in 2010 found 75 per-
cent of male frogs becoming “chemically castrated” and one
in 10 male frogs switching sex to become female.
SB 892, like many other pieces of progressive environ-
mental legislation in the last session, did not escape the Sen-
ate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Environmental advocates point to conservative Demo-
cratic state Sen. Arnie Roblan, who hails from Coos Bay, an
area traditionally dependent on the timber industry, as the
committee member who prevented the majority democratic
committee from moving forward on proposed environmental
legislation.
While activists would have liked see the reporting rules
tightened on aerial sprayers, the FERNS system does im-
prove access to information on aerial pesticide operations.
With free access to spray information, people living in timber
country have a better chance of staying informed about her-
bicide sprays near their properties and the places they love.
To view upcoming sprays or set up notifications for sprays or other forest activi-
ties near you, visit ferns.odf.oregon.gov/E-Notification. Accounts and notifica-
tions are free, but EW recommends picking a small local area unless you plan
on having your inbox flooded with notifications.
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You’re Invited to a Free
Information Session
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Tuesday, September 12, 2017 - 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
This is a free information session to help women get started at Lane.
It covers a variety of topics including the Women in Transition
classes, services offered at Lane and through the Gender Equity
Center, financial aid requirements, and what to expect when
beginning college. Attendance is required to enroll in the Women in
Transition program.
To attend one of these Information Sessions call the
LCC Gender Equity Center at
(541) 463-5353,
or visit the GEC at
LCC main campus, building 1, room 202.
lanecc.edu/start
To request accommodations contact the Center for Accessible Resources at least
one week in advance at 541-463-5150 or accessibleresources@lanecc.edu.