Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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When Beverly Ogle, an elder of the Maidu tribe, was growing up, she, her brothers, and her grandmother used to harvest plants in the forests surrounding Lassen Peak in northeastern California.
“It was amazing the things my grandmother knew,” Ogle said, recalling how she would explain what different plants were used for—food, medicine, basket weaving.
But today, as the government coats California’s forests in the controversial herbicide glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, Ogle can’t go out into the backcountry she grew up in without fearing: “Are we gathering something that’s got poison on it?”
Indigenous Californians have safeguarded their traditions through violent persecution, boarding schools, and other threats from authorities. Now, they say they're under attack again, this time from a chemical.
“It’s kind of like killing our tribe again.”
Watch the full investigation at youtube.com/watch?v=il75UKzKQZk
Video by Nathan Halverson
Produced by Peter Berger
#Investigation #Glyphosate #Herbicide #California
--
For more award-winning independent reporting, visit Mother Jones: motherjones.com
Facebook: facebook.com/motherjones
Twitter: twitter.com/motherjones
Instagram: instagram.com/motherjonesmag
► For more, visit Mother Jones: motherjones.com
When Beverly Ogle, an elder of the Maidu tribe, was growing up, she, her brothers, and her grandmother used to harvest plants in the forests surrounding Lassen Peak in northeastern California.
“It was amazing the things my grandmother knew,” Ogle said, recalling how she would explain what different plants were used for—food, medicine, basket weaving.
But today, as the government coats California’s forests in the controversial herbicide glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, Ogle can’t go out into the backcountry she grew up in without fearing: “Are we gathering something that’s got poison on it?”
Indigenous Californians have safeguarded their traditions through violent persecution, boarding schools, and other threats from authorities. Now, they say they're under attack again, this time from a chemical.
“It’s kind of like killing our tribe again.”
Watch the full investigation at youtube.com/watch?v=il75UKzKQZk
Video by Nathan Halverson
Produced by Peter Berger
#Investigation #Glyphosate #Herbicide #California
--
For more award-winning independent reporting, visit Mother Jones: motherjones.com
Facebook: facebook.com/motherjones
Twitter: twitter.com/motherjones
Instagram: instagram.com/motherjonesmag
