Date: August 1, 2016

Via email to: DNR NW Region northwest.region@dnr.wa.gov,  Weyerhaeuser Corporation kelly.dougherty@weyerhaeuser.com

RE: Comment on FPA#2815270 (chemical spray) from SVENA

 

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Dear Sir/Madam,

SVENA stands for Skykomish Valley Environmental & Economic Alliance. We are a young non-profit organization formed last year after a massive herbicide spray on tree farms in Sultan Startup area. Many herbicides are toxic chemicals that pose a tremendous threat to public health and safety and the environment. Our mission is to protect an environmentally and economically sustainable future of the Skykomish River Valley. We are working towards a safer, cleaner, healthier and more beautiful place to live and to visit. We represent interests of the valley community as well as hundreds of thousands visitors to the valley. Our supporters include numerous local and regional families, businesses, non-profit and government organizations.

We have just learned that Weyerhaeuser Corporation is planning a chemical spray on over 800 acres in the Gold Bar area and also East of Gold Bar, FPA#2815270. The local community is very much concerned about contamination of air, soil and water by drift, runoff, leaching into groundwater, volatilization, and condensation of toxic chemicals listed in the FPA: Accord XRT II, Alligare Glyphosate 5.4, Escort XP, lmazapyr 4 SL, MSM 60 DF, Oust Extra, Oust XP, Polaris, Polaris AC, Polaris AC Complete, Polaris SP, Rodeo, Rotary 2 SL, SFM 75, SFM Extra, Sulfomet Extra, Climb, Crosshair, Ll-700, Liberate, Superspread MSO, Syl-coat, Syl-tac.

Many of the proposed spray units are near homes and farmlands in the valley, where many people draw their drinking water from shallow wells. Some residents also live in the foothills, in closer proximity to forestlands, and use springs and/or surface water. While we understand that forest companies like to control non-commercial plant growth, we urge you to consider methods other than aerial spraying.  We would very much appreciate if you consider using manual release, hand or mechanical brush-cutting, if at all possible. In areas where that might not be feasible, spot spraying specific problem areas on the ground would use and disperse less chemical, than aerial application where more chemical would be likely to disperse over a wider area, via drift, runoff, leaching into groundwater, volatilization and condensation, etc.

We request that all streams, including seasonal streams, be protected by effective buffers.

If you do proceed with aerial application, we ask that you provide notice to all parties who request it, as well as all parties within 1 mile of each proposed spray unit at least 10 days in advance of the proposed application. We understand that weather affects when the application may actually happen.

In addition, please also send me copies of all notifications by email inessapv@yahoo.com and copy Diane Hardee, secretary of SVENA diane.hardee@gmail.com, and Chuck Lie, treasurer of SVENA chuck_lie@yahoo.com, for all those messages.  As SVENA president, I can send notification prior to spraying on to our growing list-serve of interested residents, so that those beyond the 1-mile radius from the spray unit boundaries can have access to spray information. Local people want to plan and to be aware of what is happening in their community.

We request that the notification has a list of exact chemicals which will be used on each site (not the entire list of FPA). At the time of any aerial applications, please keep in mind the location of neighbors, and adjust operations accordingly, so that NO drift of relocation of chemical pesticides by any means occurs.

Knowing that weather can delay aerial applications, we appreciate the difficulty of knowing exactly when they will occur. If spraying occurs, we prefer that it be under the most optimum conditions possible, even if that means rescheduling from the original proposed date(s).

Please notify us, as soon as possible, after the spraying is completed. We would appreciate you either sharing your applicator’s spray report or detailing the amount and type of chemicals used.

We are concerned for the health of our children, families, pets, honeybees, and livestock. Please note that contamination of our properties, air, water, organic gardens and fruit trees, crops and woodlots would NOT be acceptable. We appreciate you taking all possible precautions to ensure that it does not happen.

We strive to be good neighbors and appreciate your serious consideration of our concerns. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Inessa Pearce 
President
SVENA (Skykomish Valley Environmental & Economic Alliance)
svena.org