CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Urges Halt to Use of Toxic Defoliants

Voices - 8/26/2017

To the Editor:

I am writing to call attention to the use of toxic chemicals by the town of Middlebury in beautiful natural areas, including land held by the Middlebury Land Trust, the Greenway and Meadowview Park.

These poisons seep into the water table and find their way into streams, wells and ultimately Hop Brook, the Naugatuck River and Long Island Sound. The use of these herbicides is already outlawed in many municipalities.

I highly commend the people who conceived of, designed and created Meadowview Park. It was a beautiful place. It has become a travesty. It looks like someone went crazy spraying napalm.

I imagine the people who authorized the use of chemicals there had the highest intention and intended ultimately to make the park look better, to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Hopefully some time in the future it will look good again.

To the west of Chase Road on the Greenway is another area where toxic chemicals were sprayed. Yes, the foliage that was killed there was unappealing. However, there are other ways to deal with these things, e.g. cutting it back manually or with machines.

On the corner of Chase Road and Tucker Hill Road, on land held by the Middlebury Land Trust, toxic chemicals were sprayed over a year ago so that people could see oncoming vehicles. It was necessary that this foliage be cut back. Again, this could have been done manually or by machine. This corner is just now starting to recover.

I urge the powers that be in Middlebury to pass a resolution forbidding the use of toxic chemicals on public land. I urge the Middlebury Land Trust to forbid the use of such chemicals on land held by the trust. The people of Middlebury deserve the best and will be grateful.

With respect,

Edward H. Walker

Middlebury