Regional pocket levels of cancer (especially reproductive cancers...breast cancer, prostate cancer, etc), the now legendary spraying warfare that has made Paonia the "Malathion Capital of Western Colorado" and the area's legendary levels of respiratory diseases...emphezema, asthma and lung cancer...which invariably leave little or no trace regarding their origins ...are indication enough to take precautions regarding the toxic levels of pesticides, herbicides, crop and landscape burning smoke, residues from wood burning stoves and fireplaces...in addition, of course, to the tailpipe emissions from traffic....as you shop for land or homes to buy rent or lease. Increasingly, informed people in the market are adding the following procedures to the shopping lists:

Insist that any landlord, real estate agent, or property seller certify in writing:

(a) that no pesticides or herbicides have been used on the property in the past 10 years (their residues are known to last longer than that).

(b) Present in writing conditions and experiences regarding wood stove, landscape and crop burning experiences from adjoining property.

(c) Levels and frequency of crop spraying in the vicinity of the property along with other pesticide and herbicide methods of application ( if you see the atvs and tank trucks with the large plastic chemical barrels on the property you consider or in the neighborhood, look elsewhere...many think they have the right to poison your children and pets the same way they do theirs.

(d) That no roadside or ditch companies or mosquito control boards are using herbicides or insecticides in the area.

Precautions to take on your own before renting, buying or leasing include:

(a) question adjoining property owners regarding herbicide and pesticide use...their poisons become yours as soon as the breeze picks up.

(b) Have the soil tested for residues by a professional lab before purchase (and write clean testing results as a purchase condition into the contract)...poisoned land is worthless to an informed buyer...don't get stuck with a lemon because you were in a hurry.

(c) Look for telltale large and sooted wood stove chimneys in the neighborhood, especially upwind...and especially the characteristic "drift kill" cause by wind-carried herbicides drifting across property lines...one section or side of a tree dead (usually top to bottom) while the rest remains healthy.

(d) Take a walk around the considered property, adjoining properties, roads and ditches...watch for the "agent orange" wilted weeds (usually dead but still standing) and invariably in patches as indications toxic herbicides are in use. Then get out of there and be sure they understand why.

(e) Preferentially shop for the positive indicators (permaculture principles)...composting bins, healthy vegetation, singing birds, lots of butterflies and beneficial insects, croaking frogs, fat earthworms, rich soil (from mulching), tall grass growths for habitat and weed barrier on ditch banks, absence of ditch burning scars, ...indicators that the owner and neighbors are environmentally educated and motivated enough not only to be creating healthy living spaces for their own families, but considerate enough not to be poisoning yours. If the rest of the biosphere isn't happy with the property...you won't be either. Specific Community, region or property/location information is available by contacting Smart Shelter Network.