As a powerful law passed 3 years ago is ignored, Central Oregon’s high desert grandeur suffers Oregon state and county agencies have breached the law and the majestic Ponderosa pines of Eastern Oregon are dying as a result. The already-parched and receding aquifers are at risk as well. In 2013 an innovative law requiring state… Read more »
At its August 28th meeting, Beyond Toxics’ Board of Directors voted to endorse the Freedom from Aerial Herbicides Alliance’s charter amendment to ban the aerial spraying of herbicides in Lane County. Oregon lawmakers and state agencies have shown an entrenched resistance to address the problem of toxic exposure to aerial spray drift. The two local… Read more »
Did you know our own State Department of Forestry (ODF) is clear-cutting and chemically poisoning public state forest lands, using the same extractive methods as multi-national timber corporations? The latest herbicide sprays on our public forests took place this month along the Northwest Oregon Coast. Here are the opening lines of a July 29 article… Read more »
I’m writing this from the bedside of my childhood friend who grew up on the same street as I. Ten days ago she was fine. Today she is transitioning to her passing. Her breathing is ragged, her eyes are unfocused. Her doctors at Stanford University Medical Center told the family they have never seen such… Read more »
AERIAL SPRAY RESPONSE: (this was published as a Letter to the Editor of the Eugene Weekly) The Register Guard published a Nov. 30 guest viewpoint written by former Lane County Commissioner, Anna Morrison, who no longer lives in Oregon. Displaying her ignorance, she suggested that aerial pesticide sprays are nothing to worry about. If Morrison… Read more »
Beyond Toxics was one of the members of a Lane County Roadside Integrated Vegetation Management Plan Stakeholders group. The IVMP stakeholder group was very diverse, with members ranging from the Lane County Farm Bureau to NCAP to ODA to Beyond Toxics. The reason I agreed to join the IVMP stakeholder group was to tackle the… Read more »
“Timber’s Cover-Up” tells the forest story and offers solutions … in 4 minutes Recently, I had lunch in the employee cafeteria of an international corporation based in Lane County. I was somewhat amazed, but pleased, to see efforts to celebrate Farm Worker Appreciation Week. There were large colorful posters of farm workers and glossy brochures. … Read more »
PART III | Advocates, reforestation operators say effective policy changes will need to come from the top down by Emily Green | 18 Feb 2016 This is Part III of a three-part series on the working conditions and treatment of Oregon’s immigrant forestry workers. Marko Bey was sitting in on the squatters’ movement and organizing… Read more »
Highly toxics pesticides should not be sprayed on workers, but the Oregon Department of Agriculture concluded that is what Oregon-based Applebee Aviation did to its employees. On September 30, the Department, which is responsible for regulating state and federal pesticide laws, issued a citation revoking the Applebee’s operating license in the state of Oregon and… Read more »
By Kate Taylor This blog is republished with permission from Kate Taylor. Originally published in The Cleanest Line, Patagonia. I stand at my kitchen sink, looking out the window as I fill a glass of water. I live in Rockaway Beach a coastal community of 2,500 people, renowned for all that is epic about the Oregon coast:… Read more »
