Government Doc: Minnesota Rules

I found a copy of the 2009 Minnesota Rules, a gargantuan, multi-volume book hosting it's own wall in the library. 


Guess what? There's a lot of rules. I searched through the index book to find the section about invasive species. Chapter 1505, in a heavy, red-bound book, hosted the information I was looking for. The amount of information in here is incredible. I'm sure it's not referenced much unless a legal case moves around these laws, or if a city legislator is drafting a new law and wants to keep their rules and regulations straight.


Here's what the table of contents looks like for Chapter 1505:

Item number 1505.1080 applies directly to my study. People in communities have concerns about the use and procedures when it comes to pesticides. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring told of many horror-story scenarios documenting the government's use of pesticides in the 1960s. In one story, a government agency was battling an invasive species in Michigan. The agency used planes to drop pellets of pesticide over neighborhoods and rural areas. The pellets were thick enough to look like a layer of snow on the ground. Shortly after, birds turned up dead in yards across the area. 


Of course, this is an extreme example from fifty years ago. Agencies (at least in Minnesota) have moved to a more biological mode of battling pests. There are tighter regulations on chemical use, especially near groundwater, and more agencies to provide oversight, such as the federal and local EPA.


Nevertheless, people still remained concerned about pesticide use. I'll share an example from my own experience. I worked at a large treecare company. They took great care with pesticide spraying and employee safety. I sprayed mostly crabapple trees, and the chemical kept a fungus at bay. After a while, I trained in a young man to do my job. We stood at the edge of the street, preparing 100 gallons of water and pesticide mix in the back tank of the spray truck. 


As the tank mixed, a woman come up from the sidewalk. She was elderly, maybe 65, short, with white curly hair. She called to me, "Hey! Hey!" her voice stern and her eyes narrowed. "I know what you're doing. I know what you're up to." She pointed her finger at my chest. "And I don't want you in my neighborhood. You come around here spraying chemicals, spraying death!" She was yelling now. She continued by telling us how her daughter died of cancer and she knew chemicals had something to do with it.


I wanted to respond somehow, to share a condolence, or reassure her we were meeting all EPA and MDA standards set for us. But I didn't. She turned and walked away. 


I didn't speak again for a while. I got back in the truck and we left for the next job. It all seemed like a movie script. The plot was getting slack, so a quick conflict was thrown in. I'll never forget that elderly women's passion and her sincerity. By all means, no EPA, MDA assurance will get that lady to accept her trees being sprayed.