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Why do we spray Glyphosates on our forests?
Letter to the Editor
This year when thousands of us are out in the forests, gathering berries, mushrooms, or medicinals, we might want to consider a hidden threat. The herbicide, glyphosate, is the active ingredient in Shotgun, Flame, Renegade, Destroyer, Disruptor, Mad Dog 1), and Roundup. Bayer has faced thousands of lawsuits claiming it causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and paid out billions of dollars in claims.
UNBC has been extensively studying toxicity in plants that survive the sprays and discovered that glyphosate is present in surviving plants for at least a year. 2)
Glyphosates are sprayed each year on thousands of acres of forests to kill species of trees and bushes like aspen that compete with planted forests and ultimately forestry profits.
Aspen, birch or broadleaf forests tend to be more resistant to fire as can be seen after the 2017 Williams Lake fire. As Lori Daniels (UBC forest ecologist) explains, “As the fire spread closer into the aspen stand, it stops. And if we look in the aspen stand, the trees all have survived.” “Diversifying the forest … is a really effective way to create resilience in our landscape and resistance to the major fires we’ve been witnessing.”
Wildlife depend on forests for food, shade and shelter. Removing the deciduous/hardwood trees and bushes destroys valuable habitat.
We all need biodiversity in the forests. It’s time to reconsider the use of glyphosates.
Sharon Cross,
Cranbrook