“So many pesticides, so little time!” exclaimed Sue Phelan, a Green Cape organizer, when I sent her a link to an online news report last week. What now? The Cape Cod National Seashore intends to launch a program to poison crows. Apparently the clever black birds interfere with the nests of piping plovers, an endangered species.
The poison? DRC-1339. The avicide will be injected into hard-boiled chicken eggs, placed in fake nests at Duck Harbor, above, and Bound Brook. There has been an outcry from residents who fear the poison will enter the environment. Read all about it here. While I am against spreading poison as a general rule, what I do not understand is why these same local citizens, who are mounting a campaign against the Seashore’s plan, have not become active against NStar, which will spray, in a much larger area, much closer to human habitation, similar poisons, ie. herbicides, which will enter our drinking water supply. Perhaps they read the editorial in Thursday's Banner, urging people to the crows' defense? Public meetings on the shorebird management pilot program will take place in Eastham, on Thursday at 5:30, Salt Pond Visitor Center, and in Provincetown, March 3 at 5 Holway Avenue.
20 comments:
I suspect it is easier for a lot of people to get behind saving particular animals than for something more abstract. We are faced with so many dangers and lists of things to avoid that local pesticide spraying that will fall into your drinking supply falls into a huge pile of "things I can't do anything about." But that's just a guess.
There are many simple acts each one of us can do every given day that will help all living things on earth:
1.) what we choose to clean our houses with (hopefully lemons & baking soda & vinegar!)
2.) the shampoos & creams & make-up we use daily - they all go down our sinks into our drinking water.
3.) recycle 100% each time
4.) choose non-toxic fertilizers
5.) don't purchase plastics
Granted there are alot out there already - we don't need to add more.
The amount of herbicides NStar will need to "handle vegetation" the first year is unknown, even by them. They claim to spray every 6 weeks on an as needed basis. What does that mean? Can we cap them off at a certain amount of toxins? Knowing we will be drinking it, this is a must!
Please call our senator and complain now...this is the time. In a month is will be too late.
Thank all 5 volunteers for offering to prune powerlines in wellfleet with me (hopefully next week). Please contact Laura @ littlefieldlandscapes@gmail.com if you can too.
Sometimes you just need to get a step ahead of them to ensure safety - we really need our whole county to be exempt from such a toxic encounter.
I love the passion here but you are creating a storm over NStar contaminating our ground water when if you looked at your home that's where the real problem is... Toilets, septics, contaminating our aquifer should be your biggest CAPE GREEN RALLY... how many of you have renovated your septic system and leaching fields??? how many of you have converted your toilets to low flow, less than 1.8gallons per minute??? I bet less than 5% of the people who are lambasting NStar for "potential" damage have done anything to change the damage to our aquifer EVERYDAY!!! I guess its cheaper & easier to sign petitions, have mass emails, public outcries, & blog than to actually invest your own money to preserve Cape Cod for future generations.
I would hate to see anybody die as a result of a power blackout caused by trees and weeds, which is what happened in 2003. We are also susceptible to hurricanes & high winds from Nor'Easters that could greatly inhibit emergency response if our electrical supply were interrupted longterm. Could you live with yourself if someone you knew died because of a tree caused a blackout???
I would like your proof that the chemicals will enter our aquifer. Do you fully understand how a chemical binds to soil particles, what the half life of a chemical? do you understand drift, solubility, toxicity, enough to comment on it, write editorials, and persuade other people who have no knowledge on the subject.
You wouldn't know it by what I have written to you, but I am extremely environmentally concerned, I am a steward of a pond in the outer cape. I have used chemicals before under strict application guidelines. I do whatever I can to minimize my impact on the environment as well as enhance the sustainability.
When someone spouts off on something that they have no educational background I, by nature, respond. Please do more homework, before making such sensationalistic accusations about the groundwater contamination. Pesticides have the potential to be harmful, some more than others, but under proper application can serve as a useful tool to prevent an avoidable catastrophe without having an impact on groundwater & the environment.
I respect your opinion, your blog, and your heart. Maybe you could do some research and get the movement to prevent groundwater contamination underway from the true culprits, you and I. I have recently renovated my septic & installed lo-flo toilets in my house..
I understand if you don't publish this, but if you do please don't edit...
warm regards
pete
Pete, I am really glad to hear from you. I have never hidden the fact that I come to this late, but I do understand from what I have read, and, tonight had phone confirmation from someone who works in the field, that we do need to stop NStar. She told me, "You have every reason to be concerned. Even tiny amounts can have an impact."
I do have low-flow toilets, and Title 5 septic, and water filters. I support wastewater service , ie. sewers, for Wellfleet. I'm not a chemist. I'm a concerned citizen. If I had money to invest, I would invest it. I don't. But I write and I blog with passion. There needs to be an education campaign as well to help us all understand how to better protect our environment here on fragile Cape Cod.
There are toilets all over the country flushing less than a gallon of water but there is no higher cancer rate than here on Cape Cod. Don't you think spreading the amount of herbicides NStar is proposing will add to this?
Can't we go back to mowing rights of way passages instead of spraying something we don't understand how it will react on our sand bar?
Poisoning crows just seems plain wrong. If they are interfering with other birds, why not simply hunt them the old fashioned way (with a slingshot, bow and arrow or gun) and EAT them (can you eat crow? Isn't that an expression to mean recant on something?) or compost them or feed them to a predator at the zoo. Poison? NO THANK YOU. Not in herbicides and not in crows!
We all want the same thing here: for vegetation to be maintained low enough to not be a threat to power lines that carry electricity to us all.
Cape Cod citizens want this to be done in a way that won't harm living creatures and/or ourselves.
We are working with NStar to decide on a compromise.
Lets concentrate on finding a less toxic remedy that is successful in Cape Cod's unique environment.
What the NStar situation needs is a solution, to me its obvious. The price tag of tree removal, shrub & overgrowth containment, and the amount spent on herbicide applications should be the target. Once that figure is known, Cape Green or whomever should use their voice to solicit "Organic" (term used loosely) landscapers to contract on the work. They should be held to a time line and it is up to them to make sure the work gets done in a timely fashion as well as done to the letter of the law so a 2003 Blackout does not occur. This way the work gets done, there is no public "us" vs "Them", its just an "US". This could be a very huge opportunity to show that it is possible to maintain right of ways, by man power. We all know there are plenty of Landscapers on Cape Cod who claim to be green and organic, Let's see them prove it by getting together to do some major "green" landscaping of right of ways. No chainsaws, (just kidding)... I have seen golf courses, 60+acres go completely organic, going so far as using bio-diesel fuels on their diesel equipment, so it is possible... i guess the ol' adage of talk the talk, walk the walk is up for grabs... Can the outer Cape organize itself and get this needed project done "greenly"??? I think it can be done, its going to take more than a few volunteers with loping shears, but somebody with the financial resources and the drive to keep pesticdes out surely could get this accomplished and set an international benchmark!!!
Thanks for posting my previous post, I hope you did not interpret it as being rude, as that was not my intent, even though after re-reading it did sound a tad rough around the edges... i guess that's passion...
Pete, thanks for your comments and passion. I am so glad you have started this discussion. I would love to see the Outer Cape organize as you describe. The National Seashore, ie. part of the federal government killing crows with pesticides and NStar spraying herbicides are both are very bad ideas for our environment. It's 2010, for Christ's sake. What is wrong with the executives who make these decisions? They certainly are not thinking of long term effects.
Now that would be the ultimate situation
- for cape codders to have permission from the Feds. to take care of their own land.
NStar is just doing their job, it is their responsibility & I bet it's a good sized job for them. Which means they won't want to give it up for financial reasons.
I'm confident there are enough willing hands & educated landscapers to complete the task.
I'm writing this in response to Pete. Pete, I totally appreciate the idea that we need to fix our toilet systems. We should ALL (everyone in this country) have COMPOSTING toilets that do not waste water or contaminate the environment.
But I think you are wrong about the pesticides. I agree with Sandy (ALexandra) that people against killing crows with pesticides should join the movement against NStar's plan for spraying herbicides under the power lines, since both are bad for the environment.
Yes, it's good to look at all the issues (we could solve this with rent-a-ruminant, I think) and power blackouts are a problem. But, honestly, we need to stop being so anthropo-centric and start looking at the longterm. Or maybe I say that wrong. We need to realize that WE ARE POLLUTING OURSELVES OUT OF EXISTENCE. Let's get off the grid so power lines won't be a problem. Let's HIRE some of the millions who are unemployed to trim back the weeds, giving them jobs and fresh air and exercise WITH NO POISONS in the mix.
Just convince NStar to sub-contract the work out... also there is a machine called the Waipuna which has 75% weed eradication, it is an organic hot foam application... From my discussions with Randy Prostak @ UMass it works well, except takes a long time to cover a large area... The beauty is you do not have to wait to re-plant which typically takes anywhere from 2weeks to 3months after using most herbicides. So you could use the Waipuna, in combo with manual labor, chainsaws, chippers, etc, and then go in and plant natural grasses, hard fescues, creeping red fescues, grasses that are drought tolerant and can provide some deep rooting to prevent run-off & leaching. I think its a 3 year lease at $30,000 total... but then you could market its use on municipal athletic fields... maybe Waipuna would give you a break because if you were able to do the work without herbicides it would be the equivalent of having a times square billboard in terms of marketing for them!!!
P.S. Where is the Audubon on all of this???
Now that is an excellent question. I'm not sure, so I will try to find out.
Thanks, Pete, for the suggestion of Waipuna. Sounds promising.
In response to Pete's question, I called MA Audubon. There's no official position yet with regard to poisoning the crows. Reps intend to go to the public hearings, trying to get a better handle on the issue.
This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Plus,while I understand the plight of the piping plover, crows are living beings, too. And, like whales and elephants, they are among the smartest of the animals on this planet. Seems like ultra bad karma to try to snuff them out. There must be a better way to save the plovers... like, gasp, saving their habitat?
We've gone from stoning the crows to poisoning them? What a world we live in!
Update: I spoke to Bob Prescott, at MA Audubon, who explained his reasons for not yet taking a position. He said that the crows are so smart they may notice if a few are killed by the poison, and therefore would stay clear of plover eggs in the future. However, he feels more research would be preferable prior to action, as well as a look at alternatives, and plans to have his people at both public hearings to listen to what the feds have to say. Note: there are 500 pairs of plovers.
Wonderful that you continue to stand up and speak out!
Interesting that Prescott says the crows are too smart to eat the poison. Then that certainly defeats the whole poison purpose doesn't it? I hate when bureaucracy is stupid. And what about the other animals that might eat it in their stead? I just can't stand how violence and chemicals and death is always the answer to these issues.
Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention, Alexandra. Here's what I think: the United States shouldn't use any herbicides or pesticides that aren't safe for babies.
NO poisoning the crows. They have every right to be on Cape Cod, aside from the fact that the crows where probably there before humans.
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