Chula Vista Answers "Pesticides at Rohr Park" Questions
- Susan Heavilin
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
I just received my long-awaited answers on some questions residents had about pesticide spraying going on at Rohr Park in general. The City's Communication Office responses are shown in italics.
One month ago, I published a story about a dog that had become extremely ill after a romp in the park. Your pet could be picking up pesticide on his paws and you all know how dogs love to lick their paws.
According to the answers I received, Rohr Park is getting a healthy dose of pesticide everywhere you step except for three places: the edges along the basketball courts, the edges along the exercise areas and the children's playgrounds.
And how do you arrive at those three places? You most likely walk across an area that has been previously sprayed with glyphosate (Round Up™).
Do any of the following areas ever get sprayed? (yes or no)
Baseball / Softball fields -Yes
Soccer fields -Yes
Basketball courts (edges) - No
Exercise areas (edges) - No
Dog parks - Yes
Horse arena area - Yes
Children's playgrounds - No
Walking paths - Yes
Live Streamers Mini Railroad area - Yes
Picnic areas - Yes
Gazebo areas - Yes
Eucalyptus grove area - Yes
Parking areas (edges) - Yes
Horse trails - Yes
Open areas - Yes
The baseball, softball and soccer fields—where your kids play their games—are sprayed with pesticides. Your child may either track it into your home on the soles of their sport shoes or throw the shoes into their sport bag, contaminating it. Don't forget that your child's water bottle and half-time snack reside in that bag.
I don't think you want your children playing on a field sprayed a day ago with Round Up™ (glyphosate herbicide). If your kids are anything like mine, they're rolling and sliding and making full body contact with that grass and chemical. It may dry in 24 hours, but do sprinklers, rainfall and morning/evening dew reactivate it?
Grass sprayed with glyphosate is prominently viewed in these photos. The ducks are exposed to runoff from the spraying at the horse arena. | Photos by Sunnyside Common Sense | Click on images to enlarge
For those who take dogs and horses to Rohr Park, please NOTE the following. The dog parks, horse arena area, walking paths and horse trails are all sprayed with Round Up™.
How often are they sprayed and with what chemicals?
The City of Chula Vista uses glyphosate herbicides on a limited, as-needed basis to manage vegetation along trails, around community amenities and in select areas to prevent damage of park amenities, vegetation management and protect landscaping. Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used herbicides in parks and public spaces across the country. The product is applied in a targeted manner by trained staff.
"Roundup, a widely used weed killer containing the active ingredient glyphosate, is the subject of intense debate regarding its potential to cause cancer. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains that glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it as "probably carcinogenic to humans" in 2015, particularly linking it to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL). A 2019 meta-analysis of multiple studies found that high exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides increases the risk of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma by 41%."—AI Overview
Do your children play soccer/baseball/softball or go to practice weekly? That's considered high exposure..
If you're curious what the negative effects of exposure to these chemicals entails, you'll want to read "Park Visitors Beware: Please, Please, Don't Eat the Daisies . . . "
Could you provide me with a spraying schedule?
The City does not operate on a fixed spraying schedule. Herbicide use is limited to situations where vegetation management cannot be addressed through other means and is determined based on site conditions, safety needs and maintenance requirements.
What methods are currently used to communicate that spraying has recently occurred?
When herbicide is applied, the City posts notices in the affected area for 24 hours in accordance with product label instructions to inform the public that treatment has recently occurred.
After 24 hours, the signage is removed and you have no clue that the area was recently sprayed. I would rather the City post signage revealing when the latest spraying occurred.
In the past, was manual labor ever used instead of spraying pesticides? If so, do you know what year?
The City of Chula Vista has no prior use of manual labor for vegetation control.
There you have it in a nutshell. Your Rohr Park is no nature scene but a possible bio-hazard zone. I believe that's why you don't hear birds singing or ever see butterflies.
As I stated in the above article ("Park Visitors Beware"), I would be happy with the entire herbicide/pesticide procedure being eliminated. "Weed Patrols" could be organized from sports teams or local social clubs rather than have horses, dogs and humans exposed to these potentially toxic chemicals. A sign could display an organization's name (Bonita Valley Horsemen | Bonita Optimist's Club | Bonita Valley Garden Club, etc.) and that group would be responsible for keeping their assigned area weed-free. Great community involvement and this idea would encourage local residents to take ownership of the health of the park.
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