LATCHFORD - Temagami First Nation and Teme-Augama Anishnabai leaders are calling for a ban on aerial spraying of herbicides of the forest following a spill of over 600 litres of GlySil (glyphosate) concentrate on the evening of Sept. 10.
The spill occurred at the 21-kilometre mark on Eagle Lake Road northwest of Brickstock Lake, northwest of the head of Lake Anima Nipissing and about 10 kilometres west of Latchford. The truck carrying the material to be used for aerial spraying overturned and released 600 litres into a ditch on the side of the road.
Representatives of the Temagami Forest Management Corporation (TFMC), Forest Resource Management Group, Apex and the Ministry of Environment were called to the scene. Apex brought environmental technicians to the site, and Story Environmental was also brought to the site.
"The site has been cleaned up and testing has been completed by an environmental consultant, including the taking of samples - those results are not yet available. All regulatory requirements have been met, the Spill Action Centre was informed, and the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) visited the site during clean-up operations," said TFMC general manager Mark Stevens in an email interview.
He said results of the site testing will determine next steps to be taken.
"Following the spill, all herbicide tending operations were cancelled for the remainder of this year," he said.
First Nation Concerns
The spill occurred at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 10, said TAA Chief Michael Paul during an interview in Temagami on Sept. 20.
He said the spill was not reported to authorities until almost 10 p.m. because it was necessary for someone to get into town to get phone cell service.
He said First Nations representatives went to the scene the next day and had land guardians there to monitor the situation. He also visited the site on Sept. 13 because he was concerned about whether the glyphosate could enter the water system.
"If it gets into the water it's going to spread. I'm glad it was standing water." He said that it is still not good but "standing water is confined."
Paul said TFN and TAA have hired an environmental specialist so that they would not have to wait for answers.
"With something this serious, we have to know."
If the situation will affect the surrounding environment, the people of TFN and TAA have to be advised, he said.
"We've always been against it," Paul said of the aerial spraying of herbicides, adding that the First Nations of Mattagami, Matachewan, Timiskaming and Nipissing have also expressed their opposition.
Forest Management Practice
Stevens said the TFMC forest tenure includes governance by First Nations and local communities at the leadership level.
"We are relatively young, and we have established a relationship with Temagami First Nation (TFN) and Teme-Augama Anishnabai (TAA). We will continue to work with them to transition our forest management practices, including reviewing current herbicide use, while still meeting the regulatory requirements. We look forward to their collaboration in this process and in determining a path forward."
Stevens said that "tending our renewed forests is often required in order to achieve the species composition of the future forest. Herbicides are a safe, effective means of controlling broad-leaf vegetation that can out-compete conifer seedlings."
Paul expressed concern about the impact of glyphosate on water.
"We are very water protectant," he said. "Water is our life. Without water you won't survive."
He said the First Nations are not the only ones who are affected by aerial spraying.
"You have lodges, canoe campers, the hunters."
He worried that hunters in the area don't know that a spill has occurred.
The spill area is about 30 feet by 30 feet in diameter, he said. However, "It's on a hill so I don't know how far it goes out, so that's why we've got our technician." He said the technician is using GPS to show where the test plots are located.
Paul also expressed concern that the spill may prevent the start-up of the hunt camp which was scheduled to take place in the near future.
"We don't know if the moose had been eating all that, and drinking the water. It will be in their system. If we harvest the moose, it gets into our system. It's a food chain. That's what they don't understand," he said of aerial spray supporters. "That's why we're so opposed to it."
He said the watershed area where the spill occurred flows into Lake Anima-Nipissing, and also the Montreal River. He added that Lake Anima-Nipissing flows into Lake Temagami.
Darlene Wroe is a Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) reporter for the Temiskaming Speaker. The LJI program is funded by the Government of Canada.
