Marin County is poised to eliminate the use of glyphosate on eight traffic medians as part of a test program, following recommendations from county Parks and Open Space staff. Presented to the Board of Supervisors this week, a revised contract with the company tasked with median upkeep would prohibit the application of glyphosate to medians for landscape maintenance; instead, the company will manually remove weeds at a cost of $100,000 per year on top of the $244,541 existing annual contract. Aside from the higher cost, county staff expressed concerns over potential traffic delays and whether manual removal would prove effective in the long run. Supervisors approved the contract revision anyway, saying the county should act as an example for commercial retailers and property owners—whom staff say use far more herbicides than the county. “We need to be setting the example,” Supervisor Damon Connolly said. “I think we can be glyphosate-free now.” In October, the board set a goal of ridding Parks and Open Space lands of glyphosate, though it did not set a target date for achieving that goal. Anti-herbicide advocates view a full ban as necessary for public and environmental health, but critics fear that vegetation-management agencies hampered by the ban may not be able to effectively prevent wildfires. The contract revision follows last month’s update to the county’s Integrated Pest Management Report, which noted that the county’s glyphosate use dropped by 15 percent last year compared to 2014, continuing a decade-long downward trend. Supervisors at that meeting shot down a glyphosate ban by a 3-2 vote.