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Herbicide Spraying for Purple Loosestrife Along Eel River Prompts Lawsuit
Judge Sides with CATs, Halts Herbicide Spraying
Spraying the herbicide imazapyr along the banks of the Eel River to kill purple loosestrife "will fail" and have "significant environmental effects", declare experts in court filing.
Eureka-based Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) sued the Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner (County) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) for their decision to use herbicides to kill purple loosestrife plants for as many as 10 years without first consulting with the public. The suit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, also faults the agencies for failing to consider safer and more effective methods such as biological weed control programs, already used successfully throughout the country.
Experts in the biology and control of invasive species and of the impacts of chemicals to control pests have stated in declarations filed in court that herbicide spraying to eradicate purple loosestrife along the Main Stem and South Fork of the Eel River in northern California "will fail" and have "significant environmental effect." See below for statements by Dr. Bernd Blossey and Dr. Susan Kegley.
Dr. Bernd Blossey: Eradication and control of purple loosestrife (65 kb pdf file)
