Back in 2004, CSERC and a number of other conservation groups appealed a massive herbicide project proposed by the Groveland District of the Stanislaus National Forest.  That project, despite years of opposition from CSERC staff scientists and other local citizens, proposed to apply herbicide treatments across thousands of acres of previously burned national forest lands adjacent to Yosemite National Park. 

   Those chemical treatments were primarily designed to kill back brush, groundcovers, and grasses that could compete for moisture and nutrients with a crop of lumber-producing conifers that the Forest Service planned to plant.  To maximize tree survival and speedy growth of the wood-producing trees, the Forest proposed multiple herbicide treatments on each acre planned for reforestation. 

Most controversial of all, the Larson reforestation project would have allowed 1,200 acres of aerial spray treatments that would likely have killed back some populations of rare plants as well as oaks, dogwoods, alders, and maples growing across the sprayed hillsides.  The acorn-producing oaks have especially high value because the area is winter range for deer moving down below the heavy snows of neighboring Yosemite Park.

   The collective appeals by the conservation community against the Larson spray project were completely rejected by the Forest Service.  Some Forest officials were defiant in response to requests for compromise.  Accordingly, a number of concerned environmental groups joined in a lawsuit to block the project.  The California Native Plant Society, the California Indian Basketweavers Association, the California Oak Foundation, and Citizens for Alternatives to Toxics hired attorneys to challenge the spray project. Finally, this summer, after recognizing that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in court, the Forest Service chose to completely withdraw the legal decision that originally authorized the project -- canceling all Larson project activities including the herbicide treatments.

   Today, although much of the site is clearly dominated by brush species, there are countless oaks and other hardwoods already stretching skyward, providing a recovering ecosystem that also contains scattered conifers.  The agency’s cancellation of the chemical treatments reduces risk to not only the oaks and ground-covers, but it also eliminates the chemical threat to water resources, aquatic species, and the wildflowers growing across this broad area.