In the past slurry bombers usually dropped two toxic PHOS-CHEK products on wildland fires. LC95A is a liquid concentrate and MVP100 is a powder mixed with water at tanker bases.
But, as a result of two years research the US Forest Service and taxpayers are buying a less poisonous ammonium phosphate-based compound from Perimeter Solutions. PHOS-CHEK LCE20-Fx is essentially a fertilizer mixed with a red dye for increased visibility from the air. Because of its toxicity air tankers applying these retardants on wildfires must avoid waterways to prevent fish kills.
Despite being bombarded with thousands of gallons of retardant the Mullen Fire burned some 177,000 acres about 28 miles west of Laramie, Wyoming into mid-October of 2020. Today, cheatgrass, an invasive plant introduced to the Forest as feed for domestic livestock has infested much of the Mullen burn area. Cheatgrass can produce more than 10,000 plants per square yard and is a major fire risk because it dries out more quickly than native vegetation.
Now, the Forest Service, the US Department of Agriculture and the Wyoming Game & Fish Department have begun spraying the herbicide Rejuvra® with a helicopter on cheatgrass in a 9,200 acre area within the Mullen fire perimeter with the hopes of reducing, maybe even eradicating its presence. People recreating on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest have been urged to avoid the kill zone. Imagine the effects on native pollinators and cervid genetics.
So, applying fertilizer that was developed by Monsanto in the 1960s then spraying another Bayer CropScience poison to control weeds on public lands? Isn't lobbyist capitalism just another reason to move the Forest Service from USDA?
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