Tahoe Forest Spraying Concerns Make International News

TAHOE AREA — Residents and local officials in the Lake Tahoe area are raising concerns similar to those expressed locally about plans for the use of herbicides in a Forest Service restoration project, according to reporting in The Guardian, an international newspaper published in England.

The Forest Service project includes plans to spray several herbicides, including glyphosate—a chemical classified as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization—to control the growth of competing vegetation around new tree seedlings planted in areas burned by the 2021 Caldor fire. Forest Service documents indicate that the project aims to “prevent the conversion of a forested landscape to shrub chaparral.” Herbicides would be applied selectively to 2,400 to 3,600 acres in the Eldorado National Forest using backpack sprayers, similar to the approach planned for the Plumas National Forest. The documents also note that grazing by goats, which the Plumas County Board of Supervisors proposed as an alternative way to control unwanted vegetation in Plumas National Forest, is not being used because the area is too large, and because goats cannot differentiate conifer seedlings from nuisance vegetation.

Concerns have been expressed by area residents, including leaders of the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement, and by elected officials in South Lake Tahoe, The Guardian reported. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has sent a letter to the Forest Service asking for herbicide use in the Lake Tahoe basin to be minimized.

Glyphosate, which appears to be the primary focus of concerns, is classified as “unlikely to be carcinogenic” by the US EPA, and Forest Service documents cited in connection with projects in both Plumas and Eldorado National Forests say that herbicides they use are properly registered and are used only according to manufacturers’ instructions following a “rigorous and multidisciplinary assessment.”