January 7, 2011 
A new plan in Yosemite Park proposes to allow an unlimited number of new herbicides to be approved for spraying in Yosemite, including right up to the edge of streams, lakes, rivers, and ponds. CSERC is highly concerned about the proposed plan.
Back in 2008, Yosemite Park approved an “Invasive Plant Management Plan” that allowed Park officials to use two herbicides to control invasive weeds. Despite concerns from CSERC and other conservation groups about chemical use in such a pristine environment, the Plan was approved and 120 acres of treatment were sprayed in 2009 and 2010. |
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But instead of being satisfied with approval to apply controversial chemicals in such a world-renowned natural area, some Park staff decided the 2008 plan was “too cautious and too restrictive.” At a public meeting in El Portal, a key Park employee complained to CSERC’s executive director that the 2008 Plan didn’t allow herbicides to be applied to the water’s edge. “We won’t be applying chemicals willy-nilly,” he assured, but little in the new Plan provides any constraints on chemical use.
The new Invasive Plant Management Plan Update is now up for public comment.
The Park’s new preferred plan (Alternative #3) would:
• allow the Park to immediately expand herbicide use by allowing four new herbicide formulations to be used throughout the Park, including in Wilderness;
• allow the use of herbicides to the water’s edge instead of a 10-ft no-spray strip;
• allow the Park to expand herbicide use by adding an unlimited number of new herbicides without any future public comment period as long as the Park staff simply does a literature review and consults with “experts;”
• and it would even allow Park staff to apply herbicides IN water in the Park (such as in wetlands, ponds, or lakes) if they simply do an internal analysis first.
The public has until January 30th to comment on the new Update Plan. Here are the options presented by Park planners for public comment:
Alternative #1 will keep the current policy in place, limiting herbicide use to two of the safest, least controversial herbicides and keeping a 10’ buffer strip free of chemicals along all water resources.
Alternative #2 will expand herbicide use by allowing four new chemicals to be applied and will allow herbicides to be sprayed to the water’s edge. All of the six total herbicides will also be allowed wherever Park staff members decide they are needed in Wilderness.
Alternative #3 (the Park’s new preferred alternative) would allow an unlimited number of herbicides to be added for approved use as long as Park staff simply do a literature search first and discuss the chemicals with “experts.” Alt. 3 would also allow the Park to do an in-house analysis that could result in the Park applying herbicides in waters such as wetlands, lakes, and ponds.
CSERC strongly recommends Alternative #1.
Yosemite only began using herbicides two years ago. There is no monitoring data that proves there is any significant problem that demands four or more new herbicide formulations to be approved.
There is no data to prove that herbicides need to be applied right to the edge of water. In addition, some of the new herbicides proposed for approval pose risk for amphibians and other sensitive species.
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There is no justification for applying herbicides in Wilderness areas when Yosemite Park has a gigantic staff (we have been told it exceeds 1,000 employees during the year) and has hundreds of volunteers who will gladly pull, chop, or otherwise remove invasive plants. MORE HERBICIDES ARE NOT NEEDED UNTIL AT LEAST THE PARK GIVES THE CURRENT PLAN A CHANCE TO WORK. ALLOWING CHEMICAL TREATMENTS DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO STREAMS OR WETLANDS IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE MISSION OF YOSEMITE PARK.
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