If you were planning to hike, trail ride or hunt in the Hovland area this fall, you might consider postponing your plans for a year…maybe two. TheDepartment of Natural Resources Two Harbors office will be contract spraying herbicide by helicopter on about 400 acres of pine plantings through mid September. TheOtter Lake Road and Andy Lake Road areas of the Grand Portage State Forest will be affected.
TheDNR has joined the ranks of Great River Energy, the US Forest Service and the MN Department of Transportation in using herbicide spray in Cook County over the past year. MNDOT is currently treating roadside ditches along Hwy 61 near Lutsen. The Cook County Highway Department had also made a request to the county board last year to let bids for herbicide spray contracts, but the request was denied.
While these entities may have varied reasons for using herbicides, the cumulative results are the same… agro-chemical build up in our environment and health risks to us all. Some of these chemical agents are mixed with diesel fuel or kerosene to improve effectiveness. Perhaps you noticed the petroleum-like smell along the Great River Energy powerline rights of way last year.
While the objectives of these spray programs seem valid, is the use of agro-chemicals really the only way to reach intended goals? The decisions to use herbicides in Cook County are, for the most part, not being made locally.
How much of these toxins will be “too much” in our fragile environment? We won’t really know until there actually is “too much” and our water quality and health are compromised.
Do you trust the labeling safety claims given by Dow and Dupont? Can they really be trusted with the health of your children and grandchildren? In some agricultural areas of Minnesota the water table is already so contaminated with agro-chemicals that it is deemed undrinkable for either humans or livestock. And don’t expect the herbicide assault to slow any time soon…there is a war currently being waged on invasive and non-native plants nationwide.
Joni Mitchell said it best: “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”
Bob LaMettry
Pike Lake Road
Grand Marais
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