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Marin County Open Space District
Supervisors Postpone Decision Making On County's Open Space Vegetation Management Plan
On October 18th, the Marin County Board of Supervisors (acting as the Marin County Open Space District Board of Directors) postponed making a decision to approve or disapprove the Final Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD) Vegetation and Biodiversity Management Plan (VBMP or Plan) and its Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR).
The Vegetation and Biodiversity Management Plan was developed over the last seven years to provide an approach to the District’s vegetation management efforts that fulfill the goals of environmental stewardship (including reducing wildfire risks and saving indigenous wildlife from invasive species) and protection of public safety. According to the District's Staff, the Plan fulfills these goals and also provides greater clarity and transparency of the department’s decision criteria to the public and community partners such as other regional land management agencies and local fire departments.
Opponents of the Plan argue that its indefinite use of toxic pesticides, particularly Glyphosate (the main ingredient of the herbicide Roundup), and inadequate Best Management Practices pose a tremendous risk of harm to habitats, wildlife, the public and pets. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), determined that Glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. Numerous other respected scientific studies and reports have also documented the adverse human health and environmental impacts of Glyphosate and Glyphosate-based herbicides.
The District’s Staff had recommended that the Supervisors approve the Final Vegetation & Biodiversity Management Plan and certify its Final Environmental Impact Report. Instead, the majority of the Supervisors requested more time to review the documents and tasked Staff with making some revisions to the Plan and providing additional information.
Part of the Supervisors’ request for more time had to do with the fact that Staff sent out revisions to the "Master Responses to Public Comments" at 5:30 PM the night before the hearing. Very few, including a couple of the Supervisors, had time to digest the substantial revisions before the hearing. Other reasons for the delay may have been the strong public opposition against the plan’s use of toxic pesticides as well as persuasive arguments from Environmental Attorneys Michael Graff and Steve Volker about the failure of the Plan’s Environmental Impact Report to satisfy the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Click here to view Attorney Michael Graff’s comments on behalf of Community Venture Partners and Sustainable TamAlmonte regarding the FEIR for the Final MCOSD VBMP.
Click here to view Attorney Steve Volker’s comments on behalf of the North Coast Rivers Alliance regarding the FEIR for the Final MCOSD VBMP.
Supervisors' Specific Comments
All the Supervisors thanked Staff for the time and effort they put into creating the Vegetation Management Plan and its EIR. In addition, with the exception of Supervisor Judy Arnold who approved the Final Plan and its Final EIR as is, the other four Supervisors had significant requests for revisions to the "Final" Plan and/or the FEIR.
Supervisor Katie Rice requested that last year's conversations and directions that the Supervisors had given Staff about when to use pesticides and how to improve public involvement and transparency be included in the Plan. She also suggested that two sections of two documents be referred to in the Plan. These were: 1) The Open Space section OS-1C of the Marin Countywide Plan; "Minimize the use of pesticides and herbicides in open space management."; and 2) A section of the Integrated Pest Management Policy; “It is the purpose and intent of this policy to ensure effective pest management while continuing to minimize the use of chemical pest control methods with the goal of eliminating the use of pesticides.” In addition, she recommended that the Plan express that it is a "Living Document" and that, as science exposes new hazards, new products and new practices, the Open Space District's Best Management Practices would evolve.
Supervisor Kate Sears found the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) to be very challenging and expressed gratitude for more time to review the revisions and the additional information that they had received from the public. Sears also stated that there should be a "Plan To Get To Zero Use Of Pesticides", whether that plan is part of the VBMP, the EIR or a separate document. “There are simply too many chemicals in our world and there’s too little understanding of their impacts and there are changing assessments.”
Supervisor Damon Connolly said he agreed with Sears that the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) poses significant problems. In addition, he recommended that they evaluate the Plan and the EIR through a "No Pesticide Alternative". "That could alter how we approach things or not, but that robust evaluation would truly make the discussion complete and be helpful." He ended with; "What we are underscoring today is our shared goal of moving toward zero pesticide use in our open space. And, I again concur with that goal on the reasoning that has been stated."
Supervisor Steve Kinsey asked Staff to: 1) Give adequate notice to the public before scheduling the next hearing; 2) Come prepared to talk about the kind of budget that would be needed to prepare a "No Pesticide Alternative" as suggested by Supervisor Connolly; and 3) Come prepared to let us know if one alternative would be to not certify an environmental document but instead use it as a Guidance document.
Pesticide-Free supporters were encouraged by Supervisor Connolly’s and Supervisor Sears’ recommendations that could lead to a No-Pesticide-Approach to vegetation management. Numerous environmental groups, including Sustainable TamAlmonte and Pesticide Free Marin, gave assurances that they would continue to advocate for a Plan that provides effective vegetation and biodiversity management without the use of toxic pesticides.
To better understand Pesticide-Free supporters' views on the Plan and its Final Environmental Impact Report, please see Sustainable TamAlmonte's attached letter to the Supervisors.