A couple of days ago, someone emailed us that they had seen Pesticide Warning notices in Glen Canyon. This park is one where neighbors have been sharply opposed to pesticide use, particularly to glyphosate, the active ingredient of Roundup. The World Health Organization has classified it as a probable human carcinogen. The areas being sprayed were on a slope, so it’s possible for the herbicide to move downhill.

A petition they started against glyphosate use has now more than 12,000 signatures (and you can still sign it if you have not already done so).

The email said, “I saw this sign on the paved path next to O’Shaughnessy on the west side of Glen Canyon.   This was down the hill a short way from the Miraloma clubhouse.  It says they will be spraying roundup from 6/28 to 7/5 in the grasslands just east of the path.”

Sure enough, when observers followed up, they found a team of four applicators out there, spraying coyote brush (and possibly poison oak) for a couple of hours. Coyote brush is a native plant, and ironically the reason to spray it is to stop the natural succession to grassland – which consists for the most part of non-native grasses.

Said one observer: ‘I saw the workers going back and forth, spraying over areas where the other one just sprayed. It appears to me to be a “make work” effort to show that activity is being done.  It was frustrating for me to watch them going back and forth … just to kill time.’

Here’s the link to the 1:38 minute video, which shows the applicators and the location: