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Camden residents will soon consider new restrictions on the use of pesticides and herbicides after a local outcry following the illegal use of herbicides by wealthy property owners who applied them to their trees.
The proposed rule would require commercial users of those products to notify neighbors before they are applied and to provide an annual report documenting their local usage.
Support for the measure has grown after the 2021 case, in which Arthur and Amelia Bond illegally applied the herbicides to trees owned by them and a neighbor in their oceanfront neighborhood. The couple was subsequently required to pay more than $200,000 in fines and fees, and local officials have also found traces of the herbicide at a nearby beachfront park.
Tebuthiuron is slightly toxic if ingested or inhaled by mammals and poses a risk of eye and skin irritation. It can also pose a serious risk to any plants beyond the application area, according to the EPA.
The case sparked residents’ interest in imposing more restrictions on the use of those types of chemicals.
“I would say that that whole issue really drew everyone in Camden’s attention to the fact that we don’t have anything in our code of ordinances that addresses herbicides or pesticides,” said Town Manager Audra Caler. “It’s an involved process to kind of figure out the goals of the community and what sort of regulations are going to meet those goals.”
While the town has rules about the use of herbicides and pesticides on public property, it does not have them for use on private land, according to Caler.
The town has gotten state approval for the proposed rules, which the Select Board has agreed to put to a town-wide vote in November.
Several other municipalities in Maine have their own ordinances related to pesticide and herbicide use, some of which are more restrictive, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
Blue Hill, for example, prohibits the application, storage, or sale of synthetic pesticides, with some exemptions. Cape Elizabeth has introduced a measure promoting the use of naturally derived, rather than synthetic, pesticides. Closer to Camden, Owls Head has banned the use of herbicides outright.
“This is sort of a very modest first step. You send it to voters, and if they approve it, then it becomes codified,” Caler said. “A commercial landscaping service, or any sort of company — in Camden that would be arborists who are licensed commercial applicators of herbicides and pesticides — would be required to provide notification that they’re applying these, either herbicide or pesticides, and list the ingredients.”
The goal of the proposal would be to give neighbors a chance to take any precautions if herbicides or pesticides were being applied nearby, such as staying away from the property or remaining indoors while the treatment settles.
The community members who have advocated for the change hope it will raise awareness about the use of the chemicals, according to Caler.
