A local family is sharing concerns over glyphosate and other herbicide sprayings after they noticed a helicopter flying overhead with spraying equipment attached earlier this week.
This came to the surprise of April Block, who noticed the helicopter while out walking with her kids on Buckhorn Road, because she had not been notified that it was going to happen.
“Two days ago, me and the kids were just out in the backyard when we heard a helicopter coming and they always like to look at the planes and helicopters so we were looking up and this small little helicopters with sprayers on it was flying really low,” she explained.
After reaching out to the local community online, she found out that the helicopter was in fact spraying the cutblock directly beside her house.
Initially, there was no signage or anything in the area but on Wednesday one of her family members, Dale Orlinis, who also lives on the property, noticed ribbons with the words “pest management zone” covering a large area nearby signaling to them that this would be occurring.
According to James Steidle with Stop the Spray BC, these ribbons go above and beyond what is required by law in terms of informing residents about spraying activity, but April Block says she is still concerned over what is happening.
“We get our water from the well that is right next to the cutblock getting sprayed and I don’t know if it could possibly contaminate into our water supply eventually, we have kids running around and dogs,” she explained, “we don’t know if this chemical could harm us or not.”
She says she often takes her kids berry picking in the area and is worried about the impacts these chemicals could have on them if consumed.
She says this is something that residents need to be aware of before it happens and refers to the 2016 incident when the woman who lives behind her was out riding her horse one evening and got caught up in the spray.
“That actually happened in the block just behind us, she was riding her horse on those trails and so I’m surprised they’re trying to come back in this area and spray this tiny little block right next to our house,” she added.
On Tuesday, around 50 Prince George residents gathered at the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Resource Operations building to protest the use of glyphosates and advocate for more transparency from the government when plans are being made to conduct the work.
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