The word from the top, when it comes to the use of herbicides along state highways, is to minimize, but not eliminate. It’s an issue Department of Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald admits he continues to wrestle with.

“My views on it have swung a little bit back and forth,” he said this week. “We’d like to use less herbicides. But we think there’s a role for herbicides in many cases.”

MacDonald said he supports the Whidbey Island Integrated Roadside Vegetative Management Plan, but notes that island residents can expect to see some changes based on the input received at the WSDOT open house held Tuesday in Coupeville. Barely twelve hours after the 9 p.m. conclusion of the open house, MacDonald was briefed and ready with a response.

“We want everyone on Whidbey Island to know that we’re trying to do something to make sure roads are safe and maintained in an effective manner, while looking for ways to reduce herbicides,” he said.

He noted four areas of concern — issues brought up by county residents — that will be addressed before the management plan is finalized.

Topping the list is the issue of spraying near wetlands and critical habitat areas.

“We’re very concerned that all the wetland areas that shouldn’t be sprayed were properly identified,” he said.

All documents are being submitted to the Department of Ecology to make sure the plan is in compliance with the state’s highway runoff rule, added Enrico Baroga, the department’s maintenance program delivery manager.

Second, volunteers might be used in lieu of spraying. Volunteers offered during the meeting to do the weed pulling or mowing that would be required if WSDOT would refrain from using chemicals in front of the Greenbank Farm and the Tilth Market area.

“Working well with local people means we should be exploring this idea,” MacDonald said, adding that safety concerns would have to be worked out.

Third, MacDonald said the department should work to identify specific wells on private property to make sure the spray is not too close to a water source.

Fourth, he said, the department can do a better job of informing the public, through use of signage, so people know when an herbicide application is imminent or recently completed. Some Whidbey Island residents who say they are chemically sensitive complained Tuesday they had no clue whether they were about to stumble across a spray area.

MacDonald said that he does not see the need to designate all of Whidbey Island as a test site for no spray. The Whidbey plan provides for no spray on 11 lane miles or about 10 percent of the state highway system. And there are similar set asides in other counties throughout the state.

“The balance we have to make probably won’t make everyone happy,” he said.

Environmentalists are not the only ones interested in this issue. Farmers are concerned about noxious weeds infiltrating their fields, and the herbicide industry is making the argument that their products have a long history with very few environmental problems, MacDonald said.

“We’re being buffeted on all sides.”

Although he admits WSDOT is a major user, MacDonald said his department pales compared to the overall chemical use by island residents.

“If we disappeared tomorrow, then it’s not as if Whidbey Island is chemical free,” he said. “Far more herbicide is coming out of the hardware and garden stores there then we’re even coming close to.”

That doesn’t mean the department shouldn’t continue to work toward minimizing what they do spray.

“We have room for herbicide reduction and we ought to strive for that,” he said.