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PESTICIDE ALERT!
We urgently need your help!
Nederland, Colorado
On July 21st and 22nd 2008 Eldora Ski Resort and the U.S. Forest Service sprayed 1000 trees with carbaryl ( a highly toxic pesticide) for Mountain Pine Beetle. That evening a toxic, lingering odor was noticed in the Eldora valley and at least 8 local residents became ill, 2 required medical care, and several were sick for weeks or months afterward with symptoms typical of carbaryl poisoning. Many were either older or had chronic health problems. One resident, already especially sensitive to pesticides, is still unable to return to her home because of lingering contamination (carbaryl takes much longer to break down indoors).
When the Eldora Civic Association requested a 2.5 mile buffer zone from any future spraying, the USFS denied that drift from their spray operation could have caused the problem. They did, however, suggest that perhaps pesticide drifting across the divide from Grand County (12 miles away) may have been what made Eldora residents sick! The USFS has stated that they plan to spray the Eldora area again this summer despite the suffering that has followed and the strong objections of the neighboring community.
Eldora residents met with the ski resort management, presented them with petition signatures, expressed the community's health and environmental concerns, and offered to raise volunteers to help implement a less toxic beetle management plan that has already successfully been used to reduce tree loss in other areas. They say that they are happy with the results of last year's spray application, and that they plan to spray again this year following the same protocol as in 2008.
The Eldora areas winds are notoriously erratic. Since air concentrations of pesticides peak between 8 and 24 hours after application, it is impossible to guarantee that the wind direction and speed will not change and cause toxic pesticide vapor to drift into the community and potentially harm its many high-risk residents.
Nearby Grand county has been spraying carbaryl heavily for several years; now their water is contaminated, their forests are dead and brown anyway, and their residents are angry. Why are we going down the same road? The consensus among foresters and researchers alike is that the beetle problem is natural, cyclical, and unstoppable, and that spraying doesn't work. Yet businesses and government officials continue to make decisions that cause long-term human suffering and environmental tragedy in exchange for negligible short-term gain.
The fact that people have been sick and displaced has been completely discounted. Unless they hear strong objections from a LOT of people soon they will spray again in the next few weeks. One person is still homeless and sick, another has yet to fully recover his health following last year's spraying. Boulder Creek (supplying drinking water for both Nederland and Boulder) lies just below the spray area. How much more harm may be done? We need to speak up NOW!
Please help! Call and e-mail the following people immediately and demand a halt to all future pesticide spraying in the Eldora area. Some of this land belongs to us and our tax dollars are supporting this poisoning of our environment:
1. Glenn Casamassa: Arapahoe, Roosevelt, and Pawnee Forest Supervisor
970-295-6603
2. Christine Walsh:
2140 Yarmouth Ave., Boulder, CO 80301-1615
303-541-2505
3. Jim Spenst, General Manager
303-440-8700 extension 226