Warning to Berry Pickers and Mushroom Hunters!

Each year in the Lincoln Ranger District of the Helena National Forest, herbicides are sprayed on thistles and certain other plants that are considered undesirable. This is done not only along the main roads but in some logged-over areas as well. I didn’t know this until quite recently when I came across a Forest Service crew that was spraying in and around one of my favorite berry patches.

In some places I found ripe wild strawberries less than one foot from thistle that had been sprayed. It seems very probable that some of these berries were heavily contaminated with herbicide. If I had come along twenty minutes later, after the crew had left, I wouldn’t have known about the spraying and I would have eaten those berries. No notices were posted to indicate that the area had been sprayed, and as far as I know there had been no public announcement to warn people about the fact that berries or other wild edibles might be contaminated with herbicide.

Since similar spraying may occur in other ranger districts and in other national forests, and since wild berries and mushrooms growing on Forest Service lands are very popular and widely used, I think the public should be informed that they may be contaminated — perhaps heavily contaminated — with herbicides, and that it would be wise to inquire at the nearest ranger station about spraying activities before gathering any wild edibles.

The Forest Service personnel whom I consulted about this issue were very helpful in giving me information, and I would like to thank them for their courtesy. But I can see no valid excuse for the Forest Service’s failure to warn the public about herbicide spraying. — T.J. Kaczynski, Stemple Pass Road, Lincoln.