Salt Lake City worker accidentally poisons hundreds of trees in Fairpark area

SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of trees along North Temple near the Utah State Fairpark are now dead or dying, after they were accidentally sprayed with a weed killer. The City’s Parks Division is owning up to the mistake.

The city said someone in its grounds maintenance crew accidentally used the wrong product — and sprayed a weed killer called Milestone that shouldn’t have been used around trees.

“We do everything we can to make sure that our applicators were trained and licensed, as this staff person was,” Salt Lake City Parks Division Director Toby Hazelbaker said. “This was a simple mistake, a far-reaching and devastating mistake. But it was a human error that happened.”

The hardest hit areas are along North Temple from around 700 West to Redwood Road. The trees just past West High along 300 West from 600 to 900 North also appear to be dying.

“This herbicide is typically used in rangeland. It’s a common herbicide. It’s not appropriate around decorative trees. And that point was missed,” Hazelbaker said. “This person supposed, after reading the label, that it would be a great application where North Temple had been overgrown because of construction to knock down all the noxious weeds.”

Up to 200 trees have been impacted and city officials fear more may die soon.

“It’s 90% of the trees are lost,” Hazelbaker said about the stretch of North Temple between 700 North and Redwood Road. “There are some who somehow missed some of the application. There are other species of trees out there that weren’t as heavily affected.”

Read the full story on KSL TV’s website.