This summer, after more than six years of traveling around Illinois looking at herbicide damage, Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) released Hidden in Plain Sight, a report that is the culmination of our research.
The report found that trees are dying, gardens threatened, and children exposed to drifting herbicides across rural and urban Illinois. Herbicide drift, primarily from the agricultural industry, is damaging wild and cultivated plants and trees, threatening human health, and impairing our ability to adapt to climate change.
“Nowhere is safe from chemical trespass,” said Kim Erndt-Pitcher, PRN’s Director of Ecological Health. “Herbicide drift demonstrates a disregard for property rights. Again and again, trees and plants on public and private land, and in parks, schoolyards, homes, gardens, and forests are being injured by drifting herbicides. Our current system for preventing harm from pesticide drift is not working. Illinois needs to do better.”
PRN, through its Tree and Plant Health Monitoring Program launched in 2018, has been studying symptoms of herbicide drift and damage to non-target broadleaf plants and trees across Illinois.
Testing was conducted over six years at 280 sites in more than 40 counties across Illinois. The findings show widespread symptoms of injuries and an alarming decline in the health of trees.
Historically, the vast majority of this work has been funded by our members—people like you, who are concerned about the damage to our ecosystem.
“Conventional wisdom tends to dismiss pesticide drift as controlled, sporadic, or inconsequential,” said Martin Kemper, a coauthor of the report and retired Illinois Department of Natural Resources scientist. “This report conducted in places it matters—gardens, backyards, schoolyards, parks, and natural areas—shows that such drift is pervasive and insidious.”
Stories about the impact of herbicide drift have been shared by public land managers, private landowners, and outdoor enthusiasts. Their voices are included in the report.
“Herbicide drift has taken the joy from gardening,” says PRN member Patsy Hirsch of Kane County. “We have made the painful decision to forgo harvest of our garden vegetables due to repeated herbicide exposures from the chemical lawn applications in our neighborhood. You cannot unsee it once you know how to identify herbicide damage symptoms.”
The Bluestem Hall Nature School, a nature-based preschool in rural Urbana, shares space with the adjacent Barnhart Prairie Nature Preserve. The school and preserve are surrounded by farm fields, and the students are frequently exposed to pesticides while outside.
“Our nature-based program is designed to cultivate magical, respectful, and wondrous connections between children and their natural environment. How can we do this if we are literally running indoors to escape chemical drift? It raises the question: who has the right to air quality? And the answer is clearly not in favor of our smallest citizens,” said Abbie Frank, executive director of the school.
The US Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that injuries are widely underreported. Much attention has been paid to the damage caused by the herbicide dicamba, which has damaged millions of acres of cropland and natural areas across the Midwest and South.
However, the report finds consistent drift from many herbicides, including 2,4-D, glufosinate, and atrazine. In fact, 2,4-D was found more often than dicamba.
“We are also asking Governor Pritzker to take decisive action to stop the drift and protect the health and safety of Illinois residents,” Erndt-Pitcher said. “It’s time that we educate the public on how widespread herbicide drift is in Illinois and act to stop it.”
You can sign our petition to Governor Pritzker today. Visit prairierivers.org/stopherbicidedrift.
Prairie Rivers Network, a registered not-for-profit organization in Illinois, uses the creative power of science, law, and collective action to protect and restore our rivers, return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands, and transform how we care for the earth and for each other.
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