SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif.—Under the concrete span of a San Juan Creek bridge, three members of Creek Team OC sat on folding chairs amid the mud and remains of whatever the county had sprayed upstream.
Brent Linas, the group’s founder, leaned back, readying himself to share the full story of how herbicide spraying in one of California’s top spots became an issue for the county. He described noticing the change after moving to San Juan Capistrano in 2022 from Point Loma, where the San Diego River “is full of life.”
But at the site of the interview, he witnessed two sides of the creek: one that had life and one that was lifeless.
“And at that point, I knew someone was spraying just a massive, massive amount of herbicide,” Linas said.
What started as one resident’s question has grown into what is now known as Creek Team OC, a small citizen group pressing Orange County Public Works, the Board of Supervisors, and other officials over herbicide applications in the county’s flood channels.
A Run That Sparked a Movement
Last year, Linas, a 41-year-old tech sales director and former military officer, took his concerns to city officials, then the county. He recounted a contentious call with Deputy Director Amanda Carr and a later in-person meeting at Descanso Park where, he said, county staff “just proceeded to gaslight me.”
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They told him the ecosystem was healthy and he lacked the “educational pedigree” to question the program.
“I don’t agree that you have to kill the entire channel to maximize flood prevention,” Linas said.
Carr has served as deputy director for environmental resources at Orange County Public Works since 2016, overseeing the county’s stormwater program in partnership with the Orange County Flood Control District and 34 cities.
Notably, she also chairs the board of the California Stormwater Quality Association.
The group—Linas, Bethany Nelms, and Rob Beard—walked through the evidence they have gathered: workers spraying logs, an Army Corps of Engineers report they say contradicts the county’s approach, and what they call a “zombie” permit that expired in 2018.
Nelms, who joined early after seeing Linas’ videos, dug into contracts and permits and said she grew convinced “he was right 100%.”
Beard, with a master’s in drug discovery from Johns Hopkins and experience reading analytical test methods, examined the county’s sampling and chain-of-custody practices.
Following the growing amount of public pressure building on the issue, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley held a town hall in March. The team described it as exhausting for attendees, with limited public comment and what they called “demonstrably false” data presented by county officials.
Foley announced a temporary pause on spraying in San Juan and Trabuco creeks, described as a pilot program pending study results, and promised public notice before any applications.
Yet the group documented spraying in other channels, including San Diego Creek on a windy day with no signage, near nesting birds and runners.
Linas called the channels “a dead habitat as far as you can see.”
Foley’s Record
Foley, elected in a 2021 special election to the Orange County Board of Supervisors and reelected in 2022 to represent District 5, is a former Costa Mesa mayor, councilmember, and Newport-Mesa School Board trustee.
Foley has described herself as a longtime advocate for organic weed management, citing her work eliminating pesticides on school campuses and shifting Costa Mesa to nontoxic alternatives in 2019.
Yet public records show the board, with Foley serving, approved Public Works budgets and contracts in 2021 and 2022 that funded the ongoing herbicide program.
Foley has since stated publicly, “Let me be clear: I oppose the use of herbicides in our public spaces and waterways,” and reiterated her support for eliminating toxic chemicals.
County-Wide Spraying Scale
Public records obtained by the group show the scale extends far beyond San Juan Creek.
Creek Team OC has documented that Orange County Public Works applies more than 100,000 gallons, and in some accounts closer to 160,000 gallons, of herbicide across the county’s roughly 380 miles of flood control channels each year.
San Juan Creek accounts for only about 2% of the total program, according to the team’s analysis of county logs.
The chemicals include glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup), triclopyr, and imazapyr, along with adjuvants such as Hasten EA. Records show applications occur multiple times per year in many channels, often without advance public notice.
The county sprays hundreds of thousands of gallons annually across its system, according to records the group obtained, though it has only tested certain sites sporadically.
Independent Testing Attempts Blocked
During the investigation, California Courier attempted to independently test water and soil samples collected with the help of Creek Team OC members.
The California Courier first attempted to deliver the samples to Weck Analytical Labs in Orange County. However, a representative verbally claimed there were concerns about their contracts.
Public records confirm Weck Analytical Environmental Services Inc. holds multiple contracts and renewals with Orange County Public Works for water quality analytical services, including aggregate contracts such as MA-080-12010821 and more recent extensions for NPDES-related monitoring.
After a referral to another major lab in the county, Eurofins, the Courier was once again denied. In an email sent to the Courier, the lab claimed there were concerns about potential conflicts of interest with clients in the area.
Eurofins Eaton Analytical and related entities have held water-testing contracts with Orange County municipalities and water districts.
In a response to the Courier on Monday, Weck stated the lab “does not discriminate against samples based on their sampling location” and declined the work because “it is not a good fit for the operational structure of our lab.”
“Again, the decision to decline this work was due to the fit with our operational structure. However, whenever we are unable to provide services to a new or existing client, our team is always happy to assist with suggesting alternate laboratories that may be better suited for the type of work in question,” Technical Director Agustin Pierri told the Courier.
Orange County Public Works additionally replied through acting Public Information Officer Dave Ahern on behalf of Carr.
The statement directed inquiries to the county’s flood channels website as “the best source of accurate information” and said additional details would be provided once internal units compile them. The site offers general maintenance facts but no specific 2025 spraying logs, volumes, or soil-testing data.
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