Beyond Toxics maps pesticide use in Oregon
If you’re wondering whether pesticides have been applied near you in recent years, a newly created statewide map has the answer.
Beyond Toxics and the University of Oregon collaborated to create the interactive map logging pesticide use around the state over the last decade.
The map uses Oregon Department of Forestry’s Forestry Electronic Registry Notification System, public records pesticide users must disclose. The areas where pesticides were sprayed show up as highlighted on the map, and selecting those highlighted areas displays the chemicals used and when and how they were applied.
Environmentalists have long described pesticide use as harmful to human health. A recent study published in the Frontiers Cancer Control and Study journal evaluates the cancer risks of different pesticides and found some are worse than smoking.
“Pesticides are a hugely critical and important issue to a lot of Oregonians in regard to toxic exposure and environmental health,” said Mason Leavitt, GIS Analyst for Beyond Toxics. “We wanted this map to be multifunctional for people,” he said, so people can “dive into a specific location that’s important to (them) and see what’s been happening around (them) for the last 10 years.”
The map does not display pesticides used on federal lands, such as those managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, because those pesticides aren’t reported to the state government like they are on private lands.
The map is available online at beyondtoxics.org/work/pesticides-andcommunities/pesticide-map. To learn more about the pesticides listed, Leavitt recommended pesticideinfo.org.