In a unanimous vote, Jasper town councillors have decided to delay voting on the use of herbicides in the town site until their next general meeting on June 8. The decision was made at the May 18 general meeting following a presentation about the program from Jasper National Park and Jasper’s Environmental Services department, both of whom are pushing for the program.

The decision to delay the final vote on whether the town should use herbicides, was made because the town was concerned about who would have responsibility for running the program.

“If Parks thinks it’s necessary, that’s fine, maybe you can go ahead and do it,” said Mayor Richard Ireland at the meeting. “We will authorize Parks Canada to apply in selected circumstances, but the final responsibility for running the program does not rest with council.”

The Mayor’s statements came out of concerns about the way the proposed herbicide policy reads.

For instance, a section states, “The Municipality will delegate an employee or a designate as IPM officer in order to assure coordination and for follow-ups.” Another section reads “An IPM Plan must be completed by the Municipality of Jasper or its designate.”

“This all makes me nervous enough,” said the Mayor, but not having it spelled out that Parks and its experts would run the program, made him even more nervous, he said. The Mayor wanted it explicitly stated that Parks would be the one developing the herbicide management plan and would be the one running it.

It would be unnecessary and needless for the town to hire and train herbicide applicators, buy equipment and developed a full Integrated Pest Management program that includes herbicides when Parks already has these things, Mayor Ireland said.

Parks has been using herbicides to kill certain weeds in Jasper National Park for the past eight years.

“We don’t have any certified applicators working for the town,” said Ken Quackenbush, director of environmental services for the town. He pointed out it would be impossible right now for Jasper to take on the herbicide application; more training would be necessary. “The intent was always that parks would be taking care of this,” he said.

A report about herbicides use came with the request for a vote from Jasper council.

“The use of specific, targeted herbicide in a responsible manner are integral to an effective to an Integrated Pest Management program,” reads the opening of the report by Lori Rissling-Wynn, Environmental Stewardship Coordinator. The report also states because Jasper is in a national park, “it has a responsibility to maintain, preserve and enhance the ecological standard that supports our quality of life and environment. Use of herbicides under strict guidelines will assist in this objective.”

“It’s not going to be aesthetic, it’s not blanket and it’s not going to be in residential areas,” said Quackenbush. “We need to recognize that what we’re doing is not working, so then it’s appropriate to try something else.”

Alan Westhaver, Jasper National Park Firesmart program manager and vegetation specialist who is responsible for stopping invasive weeds in town, also presented the proposal for the use of herbicides in Jasper and said he believed the program could be an effective last resort.

“It will be the final step for species that can’t be dealt with otherwise,” said Westhaver. “This will be just another tool.”

Westhaver said should the town allow herbicides to be used in town, several non-residential areas in Jasper would be targeted: weeds clusters near the train tracks on Connaught Drive, near the south exit of town and in some small areas in the eastern edge of town in the industrial section park. As well, small sections on the Bench above Jasper on the westside would also be targeted.

At the meeting, Westhaver mentioned several species of weeds are giving Parks trouble: common toad flax, speckled knapweed, Russian knapweed and a series of other weeds have been “very resistant to other forms of control,” he said. 

According to him, Parks, on average, plucks, mows, digs up, and cuts down between 20 and 30 metric tonnes of weeds every summer all around the park. In the eight years that parks has been using herbicides at sites outside of the town, Westhaver said, it has only been used on a limited amount of species. Parks targets more than 120 species of weeds and it’s the final five to ten species that can’t be killed off that will be targeted with weed killer.

“The sites that we’re targeting are really occupied by some of the most resilient and tough weeds that we deal with,” said Westhaver.

He said the consequences of not taking greater steps to kill off the weeds could be dire; the weeds could spread to directly kill off native plant species in the area. This would in turn affect the entire ecosystem.

“Insects, animals, bears, foxes, whatever, it would all be affected,” said Westhaver. “It’s all connected, every species.”

“June is probably the best time to spray,” said Westhaver, because that is when many weeds are still beginning their summer growth cycle and are vulnerable.

The plan has not been met with approval from groups in Jasper.

Gord Ruddy, speaking on behalf of the Jasper Environmental Association, has told the town that the group is against the policy change.

“While they tolerate the use of herbicides within Jasper National Park, they would not support their use within the townsite boundary due to the increased risk of human exposure in an urban environment,” reads a statement Ruddy submitted to the town. “They would prefer to see the issue dealt with through the use of targeted best management practices such as minimizing soil disturbance, use of weed-free compost and other soil amendments, manual picking and mechanical control (eg. mowing).”

The chemicals that will be used in the spray of the weeds include Dow AgroScience’s Tordon 22K and Milestone, also by Dow AgroSciences, but could also include other herbicides, said Westhaver.

Westhaver said that both Tordon 22K and Milestone chemicals should disappear very quickly from the ground and will not have any adverse long term effects on natural plants and animals here.

“They are both very low toxicity,” said Westhaver.

Still, Milestone has been the subject of much controversy in some countries.

In 2008, according to the United Kingdom’s Observer newspaper, aminopyralid hormone based herbicides (aminopyralid is the principle ingredient in Milestone) resulted in a country wide dearth in the production from common garden fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, lettuce and beans. 

Farmers and gardeners soon discovered the herbicide had been unintentionally mixed in with composts and soils being sold in stores. Aminopyralid hormone based herbicides had been sprayed on fields being grazed by manure producing animals, and in turn, made it into the compost being sold in stores. The supposedly clean compost resulted in tomatoes plants that did not produce fruit, amongst many other gardening problems. According to The Observer, the herbicide did not degrade because once it was mixed in animal’s fecal matter, placed into a plastic bag and then stacked on a store’s shelf, micro-organisms couldn’t break the aminopyralid hormones down.

In the wake of the tainted soil problems, Dow Chemical placed a message on its website stating “As a general rule, we suggest damaged produce (however this is caused) should not be consumed.”

Still, the herbicide is in wide use around the world right now.

The herbicide has been approved by the United State’s Environmental Protection Agency and is currently being air-sprayed by helicopter in places like Hells Gate State Park in Idaho.

With Tordon 22k, it’s own label states that it may remain present in soils for up to two years.

“Tordon 22K is very persistent in the soil. Very permeable (>40 per cent sand) soils should not be treated if shallow (less than 6 feet) underlying aquifers are present,” reads the herbicides spraying instructions. “Most warm and cool season rangeland and pasture grasses are tolerant to Tordon 22K, however, grass vigor may be reduced for a period of up to two years while the active ingredient is metabolized by the grass... Be sure to prevent spray drift by taking necessary precautions, as even small amounts could damage desirable vegetation. 

“Do not apply Tordon 22K within 1.5 times the height of desirable trees, and take appropriate measures to prevent application or drift onto plants and trees that are not intended for control.”

Jasper Town Council will vote again on whether to use herbicides in the townsite at their June 8 general meeting.