Blog Post < Previous | Next >
Herbicide Free Marin by Veit Irtenkauf
Important Meetings on October 4th re: Pesticide Use in Marin
If you care about the use of toxic pesticides in Marin, then on Tuesday October 4th there are two important public hearings to attend. One hearing is about pesticide use in the Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD) and the other is about pesticide use in the Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) watershed.
Both meetings are crucial for the future of herbicide use in Marin. Pro-pesticide folks have been showing up in unprecedented numbers for recent related meetings. If the Supervisors and the MMWD Directors don't see significant public support for a non-herbicide approach to vegetation management, we could lose what we have fought so hard to gain.
Marin County Open Space District Public Hearing:
WHAT: Board of Supervisors as Marin County Open Space Directors' Public Hearing re: the Draft Marin County Open Space District Vegetation and Biodiversity Management Plan
WHEN: Tuesday, October 4th at 9:00 AM
WHERE: Marin County Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Dr., Supervisor Chambers, San Rafael, CA
DESCRIPTION: The Supervisors will meet in their chambers as Open Space Directors to receive a report on the Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD) vegetation management effort. Although this Agenda item does not specifically mention the MCOSD Vegetation and Biodiversity Plan and its Tiered Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the public should make comments about these documents. - Pesticide-Free supporters need to show their dissatisfaction with the plan and its EIR at this meeting since the Supervisors will be asked to approve both on October 18th. Not only does the plan keep the use of herbicides "in the vegetation management toolbox" for Open Space Preserves, it does not even consider a non-herbicide alternative.
Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors Public Hearing:
WHAT: MMWD Board Public Hearing re: the Environmental Impact Report for the new herbicide-free Biodiversity, Fire, Fuels, Integrated Plan (BFFIP)
WHEN: Tuesday, October 4th at 7:30 PM
WHERE: MMWD Board Room, 220 Nellen Ave., Corte Madera, CA
DESCRIPTION: The MMWD Board will consider whether to fund the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for their recently released Bio-diversity, Fire, Fuels, Integrated Plan (BFFIP). This plan is MMWD's new herbicide-free vegetation management plan.
The BFFIP plan contains a series of recommended goals which address the protection of the Mt. Tam watershed's habitat as well as reducing the risk of wildfire without the use of toxic herbicides. This herbicide-free plan is the result of our community's amazing activism to protect the watershed from the widespread use of toxic glyphosate to control French and Scotch broom.
On October 4th, the MMWD Board will introduce the plan and vote whether to hire Panorama Consulting to do the EIR. The district must complete the EIR before the BFFIP can be implemented. The EIR record will need to reflect sufficient factual data to justify the Board's adoption of the BFFIP. Pesticide-Free supporters should show support for hiring the consulting firm to complete the EIR.
If you can't attend these meetings, please send comments to the Marin County Board of Supervisors and the Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors. (Their contact information is below.) Public participation will be crucial in determining the future of herbicide use in Marin County.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Board of Supervisors Contact Information:
BOS: bos@marincounty.org
Supervisor Kate Sears: ksears@marincounty.org
Supervisor Damon Connolly: dconnolly@marincounty.org
Supervisor Steve Kinsey: skinsey@marincounty.org
Supervisor Judy Arnold: jarnold@marincounty.org
Supervisor Katie Rice: krice@marincounty.org
MMWD Board of Directors Contact Information:
Director Jack Gibson: yojcg@msn.com
Director Armando Quintero: aquintero@marinwater.org
Director Larry Bragman: lbragman@marinwater.org
Director Cynthia Koehler: ckoehler@marinwater.org
Director Larry Russel: lrussell@marinwater.org
General Manager Kumar Krishna: kkumar@marinwater.org