Glyphosate Is Making Wildfire Season Worse
This week, thick wildfire smoke blankets parts of North America from fires burning across Canada and northern Minnesota. Over 800 wildfires are burning through Canadian forests right now and firefighters in the United States are working to contain 48 uncontained large fires.
Most of our conversations about glyphosate focus on farms, food, and health. But across North America, thousands of hectares of public forest land are sprayed with glyphosate-based herbicides every year, often from the air, over land that communities depend on for clean water, wildlife, and in many cases, food and cultural practice.
Glyphosate is primarily used in forestry to kill broadleaf species like birch, poplar, and berry plants that compete with commercially valuable conifers, to control invasive plant species, and to clear pipeline and road corridors.