There are alternatives to spraying. This petition asks Supes to look into those. https://www.change.org/petitions/son...our-creekbanks
Just now, I saw two county workers going along the creek banks spraying something.
"What's that?" I asked, and the fellow following with a hose took off his mask and said, "Roundup, for the blackberries, but she can tell you more about it."
The driver walked back and added, "It's because of the invasive species. We don't spray it on the upper side [across the walking and bike trail from the water] but only on the lower side, because we know people pick blackberries along here."
Of course the invasive plants choke up the creeks, so something has to be done to keep them in check. But can't we do this in a way that doesn't require the use of a chemical linked to the death of bees and monarch butterflies, in addition to links to human diseases from allergies to autism to cancer to Parkinson's?
Roundup won't be banned for another ten years, but can't we stop using it now?
Plant pruning and removal with shears and clippers, machetes and shovels, is labor-intensive, and maybe the county can't afford that, but can we afford the cost of human disease and bee die-off? Of course not.
Let's demand that whatever money is being put into buying and applying Roundup be put, instead, into removing the invasive plants with those traditional means, and if there's not enough budget to cover county employees doing it then we could pay some to organize volunteers to do it.
What do you say?
Yours,
Creekfeet
p.s., ETA you can rate SCWA and comment here: https://www.facebook.com/sonomacountywater?sk=reviews&app_data
Update: I created a group on Faceboot to get the word out further: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1448893205375252/