By Cheryl Jahn

Protesters gather for Anti-glyphosate rally

Nov 12, 2020 | 3:15 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Despite the brisk wind, about fifty people came out in support of Stop the Spray, which is hoping to bring a forestry practice to an end. Canfor has applied to renew a new five-year Pest Management Plan which includes spraying an herbicide called “glyphosate” to get rid of what are deemed “pest trees.” That would include aspen, birch and cottonwood trees.

Stop the Spray says glyphosate kills the biodiversity of the forests and the wildlife in them.

“These are our forests and companies are given the right to broadcast spray every last recent cutblock with no requirement to leave patches of deciduous for wildlife or wildfire resilience,” explains James Steidle, a spokesperson for Stop the Spray. “They can spray 100% of their cutblocks with only minimal buffers around fish-bearing waterways and they can spray even if it doesn’t need to be sprayed according to government standards. We do not approve of this and neither should the government.”

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In a statement, Canfor writes: “Responsible forest management is one of Canfor’s top priorities and we use a balanced mix of social, economic and environmental values. We are legally responsible to re-establish a healthy forest stand of conifer trees where they were removed. We are significantly reducing our use of herbicide by increasing our use of manual brushing and other practices.”

Steidle argues the practice of spraying is obsolete, especially with more users of the landscape. And the decision now rests with the District Manager of Forests, who can declare those deciduous trees as a “commercial species.”

“On the way here today I saw a logging truck full of aspen and birch going to Pacific Bioenergy. It’s an economic species. It has value. Just because our sawmills in Prince George don’t utilize aspen doesn’t mean it’s not a commercial wood fifty years down the road.”

He says in recent years, people have become much more aware of the use of the herbicide and more research has been done on its impacts.