Current Issues

Lily Bulb Pesticides Leaching into Smith River

There is a very dirty and not-so-secret calamity continuing in the estuary of the Smith River (Nii-li in Tolowa, the First Nations people of this land). Nii-Li is an otherwise clean river that is a stronghold for the remaining salmon in all of California.

The town of Smith River is heralded as the ‘Easter Lily Capital of the World’, and so it is. But with that comes a very dark side: Easter Lily bulb farming requires virtually sterilized soil to keep nematode worms and anything else from eating or disfiguring the ornamental flowers. Given that, farmers apply large quantities of a host of noxious pesticides to a small acreage of coastal floodplain lands, including 1,3 dichloropropene, metam sodium, copper hydroxide, diuron, ethoprop, napropamide, permethrin, phorate, and others.

In spite of ‘best management practices’ enacted in recent years to slow the transfer of these toxins to waterways via buffer strips between cultivated fields and drainages, winter rain waters invariably flow downhill into the estuary, carrying the toxic load with them. Impacts to salmon survival and growth, and the very existence of the federally endangered Tidewater Goby have been thoroughly documented (See Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s 40 Years of State Complicity in the Pesticide Poisoning of California’s Wildest River Report). Fish and aquatic life are not all that suffers from the use of these chemicals; farmworkers and local residents have elevated cancer rates and persistent skin and respiratory ailments associated with lily bulb farming (See the Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s 2016 Smith River Community Health Assessment HERE).

Let’s get this in perspective: a strictly ornamental plant that is supposed to symbolize the resurrection of Christ, virtue, hope, grace, and innocence is causing (via its cultivation for commercial purposes) severe environmental damage to one of the cleanest rivers in the United States. Does this strike you as backwards? Oxymoronic?

Adding to the sinister irony of the situation, this farming practice is illegal under several national and state laws. In 2018, the National Marine Fisheries Service wrote to the farmers informing them of Endangered Species Act violations for their take of the listed Coho salmon and Tidewater Goby, and the Environmental Law Foundation petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board to have the Regional Water Board adopt Waste Disposal Requirements for the lily bulb farmers (petition linked here). These entities presumed that the farmers would take action to prevent this violation; they didn’t anticipate that they would simply be ignored, and that is what happened. No legal follow-up has been made. More recently, in 2021, Lily bulb growers, in concert with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) and other stakeholders of the Smith River Plain Watershed Stewardship Team, generated a water management plan entitled ‘Smith River Plain Water Quality Management Plan’. This Plan was determined to be illegal and was criticized in detail by the Siskiyou Land Conservancy, EPIC, the Environmental Law Foundation, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

Most recently, in fall 2024, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) released a report, ‘California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study for General Waste Discharge Requirements for Commercial Lily Bulb Operations in the Smith River Plain’. This report disingenuously described ‘No Impact’ to water quality (page 44), but did in fact clearly state impacts to water quality, and did call for a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The EIR will take several years if it is undertaken at all, meanwhile Lily bulb farmers would continue to apply huge quantities of restricted materials (pesticides, list RM) without a permit(?) and may voluntarily follow ineffective ‘Best Management Practices’ and may or may not voluntarily monitor water quality in keeping with the 2021 Plan.

THIS HAS TO STOP. THE TIME IS NOW!

Time to unite for the River in our request that the lily bulb growers cease and desist having a toxic cocktail of pesticides and excess copper make their way to the river and the life it sustains. We are seeking help in several ways:

Writing to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors as to why this practice is allowed under their watch (the County Agricultural Commissioner is under the direction of the county and is responsible for the issuance of permission to use restricted chemicals in the county).
Attend public meetings and be a voice to be heard regarding this issue.
Stay tuned and attend the public rally regarding this issue – planned for late summer 2025!

THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

The floodplain of the Nii-li is an exceptionally rich and fertile land (were it not for the toxins applied to it), and has great opportunity for organic agriculture that would be more profitable and beneficial than lily bulb farming. We are encouraging the farmers to switch to a more sustainable agriculture that will benefit people and wildlife, rather than degrade us all.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for all you do to help this planet.

Comments to the Del Norte Board of Supervisors:

Please stop allowing the continued pollution of the Smith River estuary through the cultivation of lily bulbs in the Smith River floodplain. If there is going to be an agricultural practice within the Smith River floodplain, it should be one that is organic, and does not require 300,000 pounds of pesticides to be sprayed annually.
The ‘best management practices’ enacted in recent years to slow the pollution via buffer strips between lily fields and drainages, are not effective in stopping the leaching of pesticides into the Wild and Scenic Smith River. Inevitably there have been impacts to salmon survival and growth, and the very existence of the federally endangered Tidewater Goby have been thoroughly documented (See Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s 40 Years of State Complicity in the Pesticide Poisoning of California’s Wildest River Report).
Fish and aquatic life are not all that suffers from the use of these chemicals; farmworkers and local residents have elevated cancer rates and persistent skin and respiratory ailments associated with lily bulb farming (See the Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s 2016 Smith River Community Health Assessment HERE).
Please do right by your community, and re-evaluate why the county allows the continued pesticide application permits for lily bulb cultivation in the Smith River floodplain.