Lake County forest district gets $836,000 settlement over herbicide claims

The Lake County Forest Preserve District has reached a settlement worth nearly $836,000 with the maker of an herbicide found to have killed more than 100 trees and damaged hundreds of others on two golf courses.

Forest preserve commissioners on Tuesday approved the settlement with E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company, which produced the herbicide Imprelis. The herbicide was applied in April 2011 to the bluegrass fairways and rough areas of the Countryside golf courses in Mundelein and the Brae Loch Golf Club in Grayslake. The chemical was not used on the district’s other golf course, ThunderHawk, in Beach Park.

Course staff knew something was amiss when they noticed “unusual curling” of the new seasonal growth on the trees, symptoms that also appeared on trees at other golf courses where Imprelis was used, according to the district.

“This happened nationwide and it affected a lot of different areas,” said Tom Hahn, the district’s executive director.

The EPA-approved herbicide was introduced in the fall of 2010. Testing at the time showed it was highly effective in controlling common weeds such as dandelions and clover, according to the district.

Last September, DuPont released a letter acknowledging issues with the chemical and offering a claims process, Hahn said. The district will receive checks of $331,463 for Brae Loch and $504,524 for Countryside, which has two, 18-hole layouts.

“It’s a sizable settlement but we lost 113 trees,” he said. Ninety three trees will be removed at Countryside and 20 at Brae Loch. Another 190 trees at Countryside and 135 at Brae Loch will undergo a tree-care program.

“There are a number of trees that have been affected but not to the point they are dead yet,” Hahn said.

The settlement compensates the district for the cost of tree removal, the value of the trees removed, maintenance for new trees, the tree-care programs and other costs. Some mature pine trees from the former Four Winds golf course, purchased by the district several years ago, may be used as replacements.

“We are going to try and make it as seamless as possible,” Hahn said of the pending work.