A rally against the spray of herbicide was out front of the Prince George Ministry of Forest office earlier today (Thursday).
The rally, which was in an effort to hold the BC NDP accountable to phasing out herbicides out of forestry, was also a way to educate and bring awareness to reforestation laws in the Province.
James Steidle who organized the rally said they want to see the herbicide spray banned to support wildlife and habitats.
“The consequences are very clear.”
“Sometimes you’ll get surviving aspen and willow directly after the spraying, but when you fast forward 10 or 20 years, those trees start to die out, or the pine trees start to take over everything and you get 100 per cent pine plantation with no diversity, and no food in there for moose, and your berries are gone.”
Steidle mentioned Quebec has banned the use of herbicides in forestry, which he said hasn’t been an end of the world scenario, and has been more or less the same.
Rally participant Floyd Joseph said the spraying also has a trickle effect beyond forestry.
“For them to spray it, people around here don’t understand that when you spray it, it’s all sprayed into the berries, and then it runs down into the watershed, which the fish gets it, and then the elk get it, the moose get it, the bears, all the animals get it.”
Joseph added he joined the rally to hopefully help protect people from picking those berries and harvesting the animals affected by the spraying.
The two hour rally began at noon, with around 30 people in attendance.
More information can be found on Stop the Spray B.C.’s Facebook page or website.
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