Here we can accelerate the process. Monsanto was one of the chemical companies whose products were used in Newton s experiments, and it was eager to accelerate the process. With the help of Newton, Monsanto representative Ron Crockett convinced the Port Graham Corporation s board of directors that herbicides were the solution to the problem of reforesting recently clearcut coastal forests. And when Monsanto offered free chemicals, free advisory help and free services of a spray plane to try out glyphosate at Windy Bay, the board accepted. It just adds the problem of toxic contamination on top of the problem of a devastated forest.
Native corporations own approximately four million acres of lands in Alaska.
In seeking ways to make money off the land, the Port Graham Corporation, along with a number of other Native corporations, has been logging the forests, although the difficulty of reforesting coastal forests after clearcutting has somewhat discouraged that effort. Brush and weeds that grow in the clearcut areas hinder the growth of seedlings. But industry promises of success with herbicides makes massive clearcutting of Alaska s coastal and taiga forests more likely. Crockett says that controlling competing vegetation with glyphosate cuts the growing time of trees in forest stands by up to 25 years, and thus benefits Native corporations which rely on timber. In approaching Native corporations, Monsanto found unaccountable and potentially huge buyers of its herbicides.