Tahoe residents rally against glyphosate spray plan amid cancer concerns

Katherine Levy, a lifelong resident of Lake Tahoe, returned to her beloved lakeside community with a chilling discovery: a US Forest Service plan to blanket vast swathes of national forest land with herbicides, including the controversial glyphosate – linked to cancer – to restore areas damaged by the 2021 Caldor fire.

A battle for tahoe’s pristine waters

Levy, who spent her childhood water-skiing and instructing skiers on the surrounding mountains, is now leading a fierce opposition, arguing the plan threatens the lake’s famed purity and poses unacceptable health risks. ‘I was horrified to find out what has been going on,’ she stated, reflecting the widespread alarm among locals and officials.

Federal push, local resistance

The Forest Service’s initiative, authorized ‘as an emergency,’ aims to treat approximately 2,400-3,600 acres with glyphosate – alongside four other herbicides – to aid reforestation efforts. However, this has ignited a firestorm of criticism, particularly given glyphosate’s classification as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization and its documented detrimental effects on endangered species. Bayer, now the owner of Monsanto – the creator of Roundup – maintains the herbicide’s safety, despite mounting evidence.

A multi-front campaign

The controversy extends beyond Tahoe’s borders, attracting the attention of the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement, which is lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict glyphosate use nationally. Local residents are organizing through platforms like Facebook, demanding a complete halt to the spraying. The TRPA, the regional planning agency, has already formally requested a meeting with Forest Service officials, emphasizing their commitment to minimizing herbicide use.

Years of pesticide use exposed

Despite the Forest Service’s claims of rigorous assessment, the revelation of widespread herbicide application – totaling 938,732lbs across 1,467,944 acres between 2017 and 2020 – has fueled outrage. Lori Ann Burd from the Center for Biological Diversity warns of a trend: ‘We expect there are going to be more and more of these spray projects.’ The Caldor fire’s impact, initially estimated at 200,000 acres, has only amplified concerns about the long-term consequences of this aggressive restoration approach.

A community on high alert

Mayor Cody Bass of South Lake Tahoe, a local business owner and member of the TRPA, has called for a prohibition of synthetic herbicides within the Tahoe basin, citing the community’s reliance on the lake’s natural beauty and the potential harm to its delicate ecosystem. ‘It was kind of a shock to me that we know what we know about it and still use it on public lands,’ he admitted, highlighting the disconnect between local concerns and federal policy.

The stakes are high

The fight over glyphosate in Lake Tahoe represents a broader struggle across the United States – a clash between ecological restoration and public health. As Hannah Teter, a local wakesurfing charter company employee, succinctly puts it: ‘The idea of spraying thousands of gallons of herbicides across the Tahoe basin in an effort to dictate which species regrow after a natural wildfire is deeply troubling.’