Six Legged Society invites community to get involved with protecting lakes, environment from pesticides

BELMONT — The Six Legged Society is asking community members to get involved in protecting the Lakes Region from systemic pesticides, including at an upcoming, but yet-to-be-scheduled, hearing with the state Pesticide Control Board.

Tonya Albee, founder of the Six Legged Society, has been a Lakes Region resident for many years.

“When we were kids, under every rock in the lake was a crayfish,” Albee said. “There were minnows by the cupful. The bats were in the sky killing the mosquitoes. The dragonflies went in swarms over the lakes. That's what it was like when we were kids. But it's not like that anymore. There's some dragonflies. It's not like they're gone totally, but the abundance was rich when we were kids, and it is no longer.”

The Six Legged Society, based in Wolfeboro, is a group of citizens collaborating to save biodiversity, with a focus on impacts to pollinators, according to its website.

Albee said most people have never even heard the word neonicotinoid, even though it is the most widely used pesticide in the world.

“It's a systemic pesticide, and it is designed to kill insects and it does that. It does that incredibly well,” Albee said. “So, the farmers love it, because suddenly, they have no pests. But they also lost one of the only sources of labor that they have for free, and that is a pollinator.”

Throughout a presentation held on the impact of systemic pesticides on lakes and wildlife in the Lakes Region at the Belmont Mill on Sept. 22, Albee interacted with community members, aiming to make pesticide toxicity easier to understand and visualize with props.

Albee showed the room a typical ground coffee can, stating dumping two coffee cans filled with neonicotinoids, totalling about 1 pound, would make the entirety of the deep, 6-mile-long Lake Wentworth, in Wolfeboro, toxic.

Albee also showed the room a box of name-brand popcorn, stating they spray their corn seeds with neonicotinoids. There is currently a petition with the Environmental Defense Fund urging popcorn producers, such as Orville Redenbacher's, to switch to untreated corn seeds.

Albee also shared a 2022 study published by Dartmouth College, on exposure of neonicotinoids in pregnant women. Twenty pregnant women were part of the study, and all 20 tested positive for neonicotinoid markers in their system. Because they are systemic chemicals, pregnant women ingest the pesticides through apples or corn, for example, and pass them on to their fetus in the womb.

Albee said there is still so much unknown about long-term effects of neonicotinoids. The effects observed in wildlife are neurological.

“That's how it kills most of the bees. It impairs their neurological system. They can't fly,” Albee said. “If a bird eats one little corn seed that's got that red coating on it, that bird will not be able to fly. And usually, that bird will just die of paralysis. That's how toxic this stuff is.”

Albee also talked gardening tactics. She said there is no federal or state requirement to label plants as having been treated with systemic pesticides. Albee said people can think they are doing everything right, planting a pollinator garden. But if those plants were treated with systemic pesticides, pollinators such as bees and butterflies are being poisoned, unknowingly.

Albee said to avoid poisoning pollinators, gardeners can look for greenhouses and growers who certify they grow their plants without systemic pesticides. Albee recommended Van Berkum Nursery in Deerfield, or the National Wildlife Federation, where one can purchase native plants to their region online.

Albee said 95% of systemic pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, do not get absorbed by the plant, but go into the soil and water. They are very water soluble, making it easy to run off into lakes or rivers.

When these harmful chemicals get in and contaminate bodies of water, they kill aquatic invertebrates and zooplankton. Zooplankton consume algae, so as their numbers decrease, cyanobacteria blooms are then accelerated.

Albee also brought up tick concerns, and said even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated spraying pesticides in the backyard does not reduce the chance of contracting Lyme disease, all it does is kill the insects that are present. Albee said the best course of action is the old-fashioned tick check. 

At the Pesticide Control Board meeting on Aug. 17, Albee and Rep. John MacDonald (R-Wolfeboro) advocated for a ban, or strict regulations, on systemic pesticides, specifically neonicotinoids, in New Hampshire.

Currently, they are pushing the board to ban or stop application of pesticides on turf, and attempting to repeal a law allowing commercial pesticide users to spray in the 50-foot lake buffer zone. They support efforts to end the coating of crop seeds with neonicotinoids, stating farmers will have the same harvest with untreated seeds, and will not contaminate waterways.

The American Bird Conservatory, a nonprofit working with the Six Legged Society and Albee on this issue, said they would fund grants for farmers, to test if the untreated seeds bring the same harvest.

The Xerces Society, New Hampshire Lakes, Trout Unlimited, and the Conservation Law Foundation are also partner organizations, assisting Albee with scientific, financial, and legal needs.

The Pesticide Control Board initially proposed a restricted sale on neonicotinoids, which Albee found inadequate, because this only prevents hardware stores from selling them, but continues to allow commercial users to apply them.

Albee said when she was looking for previous water quality data on neonicotinoids, she found there were no state agencies or local groups currently testing for pesticides.

The state Department of Environmental Services confirmed they do not test state waters for neonicotinoids, due to a lack of staff and funding. The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a pesticide test in the Merrimack River roughly a decade ago, and has not monitored it since. Albee said local groups, such as the Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance, focus their testing on salt runoff, septic effluence, and phosphorus.

Albee took it upon herself, using retirement funds to connect with labs in the area who could measure neonicotinoids in parts per trillion. Her group initiated water quality tests for every season across local water bodies, gathering data on their contamination.

They will bring the findings to the Pesticide Control Board and state representatives. Albee said there is not yet a date set for their upcoming hearing with the board, as they only give a few days notice.

Albee urged community members to express their concern to the board, through showing up to the meeting, writing letters of support, or sending letters to the editor of their local newspaper.

Community members at the presentation signed up to be notified when a hearing date is published.

“We need all the support we can have, because we really need to show them how serious people are about caring for the lakes,” Albee said.