New Figures Detail Logging Giant’s Vast Herbicide Use

Statistics released today by international environmental group ForestEthics show for the first time the total quantity and variety of toxic herbicides used by Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) as part of their controversial logging practices.

Compiled between 1995 and 2006, the data reveals that California’s largest private landowner has used over 770,000 pounds of toxic chemicals to manage their tree plantations across Northern California. The questionable safety of these chemicals, and the sheer quantity used in the watersheds of California’s rivers and streams, raises questions about whether SPI is using herbicides as a crutch, when they should be used as a last resort.

Contact ForestEthics at 415.407.3426 to learn more about SPI’s herbicide use in your specific county.

“The evidence for pesticides acting as endocrine disruptors affecting everything from sexual development, to immune function, to cancer is increasing and is no longer simply a hypothesis,” said Professor Tyron Hayes of the Department of Integrative Biology at Berkeley and an expert on atrazine.   “The task now is to figure out exactly what and how much humans and wildlife are exposed to and assess the relative risks to environmental health and public health.”

One of the toxins detailed in the report, atrazine, was the second most frequently detected pesticide in EPA's National Survey of pesticides in drinking water wells. Studies have shown that at levels 1/30th of what the EPA allows in drinking water, atrazine can cause male frogs to grow ovaries. It is also suspected to have caused male fish in the Potomic River to grow eggs. ForestEthics’ records find that SPI has used over 91,450 pounds of atrazine.  Its use is banned by the European Union.

Imazapyr is also used by SPI in their forestry practices.  It has been shown to increase the number of brain and thyroid cancers in male rats and can be persistent in soil for up to a year.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has gone on record stating that imazapyr is a threat to endangered species in 24 states east of the Mississippi River.  SPI has used almost 31,000 pounds of this chemical in the state.

"Scientific work has shown that even trace amounts of common herbicides such as atrazine have deleterious ecological effects when present in streams and lakes,” said Don Erman, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis and the Science Team Leader of the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project. “Pesticides show up in some of our most pristine watersheds, and forestry practices increasingly rely on herbicides in management after logging and fire. Individual citizens, watershed groups and others need information on what, where and when herbicides are being applied to forestlands."

SPI is already facing scrutiny from concerned citizens due to its persistent use of destructive logging practices such as clearcutting and the conversion of natural forests to tree plantations.  Their heavy reliance on toxics in everyday management is yet another example of a business model that is viewed as controversial and outdated.

"For years I have witnessed the devastation caused by timber companies as they clearcut forests in Shasta County, replacing forests with sterile tree plantations and eviscerating habitat for wildlife,” said Sue Lynn of Montgomery Creek, a small town 36 miles outside Redding.  “The astounding quantities of herbicide being sprayed in our forests outrages me. They do not have the right to poison the land and the watersheds that provide drinking water for Californians."

The process of compiling this information required over half a year of sorting through data from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR). By California law all commercial herbicide use must be reported, including the time, location and quantity of each application.

ForestEthics’ “Save the Sierra” campaign is working to transform the destructive logging practices of California’s largest landowner, Sierra Pacific Industries. Since 1995, SPI has clearcut or converted to plantation over a quarter of a million acres of natural forests, with plans for up to a million acres within the next fifty years. Though the Sierra is home to half of California’s plants and animals and the source of 60% of our drinking water, SPI continues to ruin this natural treasure with its destructive practices.