For Immediate Release

Majority of Oregonians Favor Ban on Aerial Spraying by Logging Industry

PORTLAND, Ore – Oregon Wild released a state-wide poll today revealing 67% of Oregonians support banning the logging industry’s practice of spraying toxic pesticides and herbicides from aircraft over state and private forests. 

87% of Democrats polled support a ban, with 57% agreeing that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate that opposed reforms to Oregon’s aerial spraying laws.  53% of rural Oregon residents responded that they would favor a ban, as did 47% of registered Republicans.

"These poll results really highlight how much power logging and chemical company lobbyists have over both political parties in Salem," observed Steve Pedery, Conservation Director for Oregon Wild.  "While the public may want a ban, politicians in Salem wouldn't even give a hearing to a bill to notify people before toxic chemicals are sprayed near homes and schools."

Currently, aerial pesticide spraying is banned over public lands managed by the Forest Service under a policy adopted to protect the health of workers and to keep toxic chemicals out of rivers and streams. However, spraying is allowed on state and private forests regulated separately under the weak Oregon Forest Practices Act. Oregon’s logging rules do much less to protect private citizens and their property from aerially sprayed chemicals than those of Washington, California, and even Idaho.

As a result, Oregon has had numerous incidents across the state in which neighbors, their children, and their animals suffered serious health consequences when exposed to toxic chemicals applied via aerial spray.  In one such incident, 45 residents of Cedar Valley, Oregon, a coastal community near Gold Beach, were directly sprayed with pesticides in a botched application by a logging company contractor. 

"The question now, demonstrated by this poll, is whether the Oregon legislature can be an effective check on the money and influence of logging and chemical lobbyists," added Pedery.  "Other vehicles, including the courts or a ballot initiative, may be necessary to protect the health of Oregonians, our rivers, and our environment."  

SB 613, a compromise proposal introduced in the State Legislature this year would have initiated a number of reforms.  It enjoyed strong support from rural citizen groups and prominent conservation organizations because it would have required notification to surrounding communities of impending sprays, created no-spray buffers around homes, schools and drinking water sources, and increased access to information for victims of chemical exposure and their physicians. This legislation was vigorously opposed by the logging and chemical industries, who were able to block the legislation from ever receiving a public hearing or vote in front of the Democratically controlled Legislature.

###