Permaculture Blog

The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), a California trade association, wants you to have less information about pesticide residues on the fruits and vegetables you buy. That’s not too surprising; since the Alliance represents more than 50 large produce growers and marketers and the suppliers who sell them pesticides and fertilizer.

Source: Taxpayers Funding Pro-Pesticide PR Campaign

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is sending the Alliance $180,000 in federal funds to finance its plan to combat pesticide industry critics

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Source: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/emailarchive/viewemail.php?email=Wolverines%20need%20full%20protection2024-01-12T130429Z.html

Wolverines are an awesome part of our environment. They 100% need our help and protection. The national park service should not be bending and breaking their own pesticide use regulations and The fish and wildlife service should not be breaking their rules! Funny how both of these Federal entities end in “service”. Chuckling.

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(KTLA) — California’s mountain lion population is far smaller than previously thought, according to researchers. The California Mountain Lion Project found that there are between 3,200 …

Source: California mountain lion population far smaller than previously thought, study finds: LAT

Tiffany Yap, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, noted in a statement that “these low numbers highlight that pumas are more vulnerable than ever because of habitat loss and fragmentation.”

“These majestic cats are in desperate need of permanent protections and more wildlife crossings to connect what’s remaining of their home turf,” Yap said. “Without these actions, that 3,000 number will quickly dwindle.”

An underpass near the city of Temecula to allow crossing under the 15 freeway is the result of a two-year legal battle by Endangered Habitats League and the Center for Biological Diversity.  Let’s all applaud this critical wildlife corridor for local mountain lions and other wildlife.

Summary OTNP jan2024
Good morning! 🥀😊 Many of us know that pesticides are a huge problem for us, but it’s harder for people to connect that to our endangered species. Our endangered animals cannot choose to eat organic. When they are sick or get cancer, they cannot go to the hospital or even a veterinarian. Our endangered species cannot get the latest treatment for autism or Parkinson’s. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23402800/ They cannot have doctors fix their birth defects. They cannot get something as simple as an aspirin, let alone more serious pain medication. They just have to suffer.

I do not believe the vast majority of our National Environmental groups are doing an adequate job. Our endangered animals cannot hire their own lawyers to sue Monsanto or request public documents. They cannot then publish those documents so that we all are kept abreast of the toxicity issues.

I believe that indiscriminate and inappropriate pesticide use is one of the greatest dangers to our endangered species today. I have struggled to get _any_ information from our national park service (nps) about the widespread use of pesticides in highly sensitive areas. Extreme amounts of pesticides that are not even approved for organic use are used in already damaged and highly sensitive “natural” areas.

Our Toxic national parks (OTNP) are spraying tons, literally many hundreds if not thousands of _tons_ of pesticides _in_ our national parks and surrounding designated wilderness areas.

_We Are Saving The Wrong Bees_
https://youtu.be/l6K8x_8YXlM?si=lX_k4-lr-ErKPgk7 Is an awesome and fun talk! 10 seconds in I’m yelling “that is not a bee that is not a bee that is a fly”. …. Oh …. OK 😃. At another point he comments about the damage pesticides are doing to our native bees and what we can do! It really is a _great_ TED talk about many of the ways our native bees are important. You should come back and listen to it!

And yet, in the data below the integrated pest management for the national parks approved _10 tons_ of monarch killing, native bee killing, frog killing, bat killing pesticides in a single permit. www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/sloppy-almost-criminally-poor-approval-of-pesticide-use-by-our-national-parks/ I guess I understand a little of why the nps is now trying to hide it so much.🥴

I have spent 40+ years working with non-toxic aquatic environments. I have a lot of experience and interest in decreasing the use of pesticides. But I think that the first requirement is to get a full and honest review and accounting of chemical and non-chemical methods being used in the parks. www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/our-toxic-national-parks/

The nps is hiding the fact that they are still using glyphosate(Roundup). They are hiding the amounts of pesticides they are approving. They are hiding the specific types of pesticides approved. And they are hiding the approval process. www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/our-toxic-national-parks-otnp-communication-summary/

Why? All they now say to me with is “file a FOIA request.” I have filed a FOIA. I have no intention of filing additional FOOAs. If online reports are true the nps is just sitting on them, _1,500_ of them! The FOIA law actually does not in any way require _me_ to file one to get the public information literally sitting on their desks. The FOIA law does however, _require_ government agencies to have already _publicly_ published _online_ the exact information I am requesting. Yes we all know that the government chooses which laws they are going to follow — this is ongoing under both our national political parties. It is also ongoing under “the watchful eye” of most of our “environmental groups” as well.

So is trying to reduce the pesticide use in our parks pointless? No! I believe it is _not_ pointless! Please just try three little _easy_ things! 😀 If you think about it carefully, it may be more important for 20 people to do these three little things then for them all to recycle for an entire year!

www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/what-can-anyone-do-about-the-pesticide-use-in-our-national-parks/

Just three things! Try it, you’ll like it!😃

Bob

<br>www.puravidaaquatic.com/

Hawaii hardest hit by loss of eight birds, with an Ohio catfish, a Pacific fruit bat and eight freshwater mussels also disappearing

Source: ‘Grief is a rational response’: the 21 US species declared extinct this year

The endangered species Act turns 50 this year!

A study by the Center found that plants and animals with this federally protected habitat are more than twice as likely to be moving toward recovery than species without it.

Source: Protecting Critical Habitat

50 years of Protecting critical habitat includes not spraying pesticides all over it.  Just say’n national park service.

Fight the ongoing toxicity in our national parks (OTNP).
Our Toxic national parks (OTNP) Communication Summary

Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law Legislation S.1856-A/A.7640, known as the Birds and Bees Protection Act. This nation-leading legislation protects New York

Source: Gov. Hochul approves ‘Birds and Bees Protection Act’ to limit pesticides in New York

This is great! We continue to dribble along. But let me bet anyone out there that we are still spraying neonicotinoid pesticides _in_ our national parks. We really do need to get the indiscriminate use of pesticides stopped. In all of our national parks too.

Our Toxic national parks (OTNP) Communication Summary
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Treasure Coast news and information in Indian River County, Martin County and St. Lucie County, Florida

Source: Treasure Coast News, Sports, Weather, Business | Treasure Coast News

Holy Frack!😮 I didn’t know that 80% of us had glyphosate in our bodies. I’ve been accused many times of being too negative on pesticides but I don’t dwell on various aspects of them. I do know that the research that the agrochemical companies are doing is _not_ adequate. I am worried that the minimal care we spend in testing new drugs; especially comparing one drug against another, isn’t being done with pesticides. And isn’t even remotely close to what is necessary for chemicals who’s names end in c i d e — they were deliberately designed to kill biological organisms that are incredibly close to us genetically. Even our national parks have become toxic. Google “OTNP”. Good luck to us all!

Source: Impacts of Pesticides on Wildlife

direct or indirect application, such as pesticide drift, secondary poisoning, runoff into local water bodies, or groundwater contamination. It is possible that some animals could be sprayed directly; others consume plants or prey that have been exposed to pesticides.

Pesticide exposure can be linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, kidney and liver damage, birth defects, and developmental changes in a wide range of species. Exposure to pesticides can also alter an organism’s behavior, impacting its ability to survive. In birds, for example, exposure to certain pesticides can impede singing ability

Our national parks have become toxic. If you would really like to help our endangered species consider these ideas. What can anyone do about the pesticide use in our national parks.

On Oct 16 2023  I started looking for a National Park that I might be able to persuade to go completely non-poison. I went to the federal government’s FOIA page and filed a request for pesticide use information in our national parks. It said it could take up to a year. Online reports said that the national park system had 1,500 backlogged. I assume if they’re “backlogged” they are even beyond a year. This report suggested that The nps was just using them as a way of hiding information. The foia law is meant to stop that very thing but apparently there are no penalties for breaking federal law.

So I decided to start at the other end as well and I contacted Yosemite, Sequoia, and the Everglades National Parks individually.

https://www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/brief-summary-national-parks-pesticide-use/

https://www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/our-national-toxic-parks/

Over dozens of emails none of the parks responded other than misinformation and junk links. Yosemite has been by far the worst with false links and “deliberate”? misinformation.

I believe this suggests a much wider use of toxins than I had imagined. I renamed this project our toxic national parks (OTNP). Do you think their behavior at answering legitimate questions has been toxic as well?

I finally contacted some of our National Environmental groups. To ask why they have not been reporting on the increasing use of pesticides in areas that are habitat for endangered species?  And if they have any plans to ask the nps for pesticide application information.  None but one has responded beyond a form letter that said that they had gotten the correspondence.

The Center For Biological Diversity has been a bright spot in much of this. They have an online database of their FOIA requests. That itself has been very helpful so far. And the data suggests that many of the pesticides being currently used in our national parks are toxic to the developing young of many of our endangered species.

Likewise the John Muir Society while not particularly helpful to me, seems to be doing more to challenge the nps then the sierra club, worldwide fund, and audubon society combined.

I believe that people who are at all truly concerned about endangered species and or widespread pesticide use should reconsider donations to the various organizations who are being unresponsive to simple questions regarding pesticide use in our national parks.