Former orchard lands

From 1905 to 1947, lead-arsenate pesticides were used in orchards, primarily apple and pear. These pesticides left lasting arsenic and lead contamination in soil. Some former orchards have been turned into neighborhoods, schools, and parks. People living, working, and playing in contaminated soil may be at risk.

Our maps are only estimates of potentially affected lands. Check with your local planning department to find out if your neighborhood was built on former orchard lands.

We funded cleanups at 26 schools and two parks in Central and Eastern Washington. These cleanups helped protect thousands of children in the places they play. Find out which schools and parks have been cleaned up.

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Legacy Pesticide Working Group

We're actively looking for solutions to address contaminated lands that are being converted from agricultural use to residential or commercial use. We convened the Legacy Pesticides Working Group made up of 34 members representing banking, health, real estate, local government, and homebuilders from central Washington, to help us identify potential approaches.

The Working Group will meet several times in early 2020 to find mitigation and notification options for properties contaminated with lead and arsenic that can work at the local level. We also hope to gain input on implementing a broad education and awareness strategy. For more information on the Working Group, visit our Legacy Pesticide Working Group page.

Potentially affected lands

Lead-arsenate pesticides were primarily used in apple and pear orchards. The map below provides a general distribution of lead-arsenate pesticide contamination based on where apple and pear trees were located historically. The information is based on the peak-year acreage of apple and pear trees from 1905 to 1947, when lead-arsenate pesticides were used.

Number of acres potentially affected in each county

The number of acres potentially affected by lead-arsenate in each county are provided in the table below.

These maps show areas that are below 2,500 feet in elevation (2,000 feet for Yakima County) and are not state, federal, or tribal lands. With a few exceptions, fruit trees are unlikely to have been grown on state or federal lands, or at elevations greater than 2,000 or 2,500 feet (based on the highest elevation of historical orchard locations in Yakima and Chelan counties). On the Yakima County map, an area west of Wapato where apple and pear trees were historically grown is shown as potentially affected, even though the Yakama Nation owns it.

Potentially contaminated areas stretch along the Wenatchee river up to Leavenworth, along the lower quarter of Lake Chelan, and up the Entiat river. — Areas where lead-arsenate pesticides were potentially used in Chelan County based on land-use information.

Potentially contaminated areas cluster around the length of the Okanogan river and stretch along the Methow river to beyond Winthrop. — Areas where lead-arsenate pesticides were potentially used in Okanogan County based on land-use information.

Potentially contaminated areas spread from the joining of the Naches and Tieton rivers along the length of the Yakima river and along the route of highway 24. — Areas where lead-arsenate pesticides were potentially used in Yakima County based on land-use information.

The table below lists peak-year apple and pear tree acreages by county and compares the total area potentially affected by lead-arsenate pesticides to the total area of each county and the total amount of private land in each county. Data on apple and pear tree acreages is from the Washington State Agricultural Census for 1905–1947; data on public land areas is from Ecology’s database of state and federal public lands in Washington.


County	Total county acreage	Public land acreage	Private land acreage	Total apple & pear tree acreage	Percent of county affected	Percent of private land affected
Adams	1,235,072	80,728	1,154,344	536	0.04 percent	0.05 percent
Asotin	409,262	108,814	300,448	501	0.12 percent	0.17 percent
Benton	1,122,809	352,563	770,246	7,738	0.69 percent	1 percent
Chelan	1,915,838	1,695,939	219,899	30,463	1.59 percent	13.85 percent
Clallam	1,141,042	719,834	421,208	331	0.03 percent	0.08 percent
Clark	410,999	75,462	335,537	2,676	0.65 percent	0.8 percent
Columbia	556,220	182,342	373,878	1,161	0.21 percent	0.31 percent
Cowlitz	731,478	128,115	603,363	1,139	0.16 percent	0.19 percent
Douglas	1,179,695	165,502	1,014,193	7,467	0.63 percent	0.74 percent
Ferry	1,450,915	1,246,545	204,370	322	0.02 percent	0.16 percent
Franklin	807,391	97,656	709,735	314	0.04 percent	0.04 percent
Garfield	459,852	113,200	346,652	749	0.16 percent	0.22 percent
Grant	1,786,503	425,765	1,360,738	4,928	0.28 percent	0.36 percent
Grays Harbor	1,235,289	490,589	744,700	425	0.03 percent	0.06 percent
Island	137,021	14,310	122,711	605	0.44 percent	0.49 percent
Jefferson	1,162,696	924,553	238,143	324	0.03 percent	0.14 percent
King	1,403,508	631,641	771,867	2,700	0.19 percent	0.35 percent
Kitsap	255,339	41,354	213,985	969	0.38 percent	0.45 percent
Kittitas	1,494,741	1,019,122	475,619	1,642	0.11 percent	0.35 percent
Klickitat	1,212,167	238,612	973,555	4,632	0.38 percent	0.48 percent
Lewis	1,564,211	669,023	895,188	1,954	0.12 percent	0.22 percent
Lincoln	1,496,674	127,984	1,368,690	1,819	0.12 percent	0.13 percent
Mason	620,305	235,033	385,272	416	0.07 percent	0.11 percent
Okanogan	3,402,402	2,630,253	772,149	10,608	0.31 percent	1.37 percent
Pacific	597,842	99,369	498,473	238	0.04 percent	0.05 percent
Pend Oreille	910,089	613,346	296,743	222	0.02 percent	0.07 percent
Pierce	1,080,110	462,343	617,767	2,139	0.2 percent	0.35 percent
San Juan	110,755	13,721	97,034	1,407	1.27 percent	1.45 percent
Skagit	1,127,231	657,007	470,224	941	0.08 percent	0.2 percent
Skamania	1,072,343	955,884	116,459	2,376	0.22 percent	2.04 percent
Snohomish	1,345,933	831,391	514,542	1,670	0.12 percent	0.32 percent
Spokane	1,138,013	74,600	1,063,413	19,455	1.71 percent	1.83 percent
Stevens	1,623,630	666,365	957,265	3,542	0.22 percent	0.37 percent
Thurston	471,388	95,381	375,957	1,075	0.23 percent	0.29 percent
Wahkiakum	165,146	44,341	120,805	195	0.12 percent	0.16 percent
Walla Walla	825,730	34,516	791,214	3,092	0.37 percent	0.39 percent
Whatcom	1,390,935	984,655	406,280	1,948	0.14 percent	0.48 percent
Whitman	1,393,456	43,240	1,350,216	6,819	0.49 percent	0.51 percent
Yakima	2,757,047	2,144,184	612,863	58,050	2.11 percent	9.47 percent
Statewide	43,201,027	20,135,282	23,065,745	187,588	0.43 percent	0.81 percent

DISCLAIMER: These more detailed maps of potential lead-arsenate pesticide contamination have two limitations:

They include all orchard areas, not just apple and pear orchard locations where lead-arsenate pesticide use was more likely.
Because apple and pear acreage was lower in these counties in 1947 than in previous years, these maps may not include some land impacted by lead-arsenate use.

Historically there were many orchards in the Manson area on lake Chelan. — Areas where lead-arsenate pesticides were potentially used in Chelan County based on 1947 aerial photographs.

The largest clusters of historic orchard lands are between Naches and Yakima, with another cluster south of Yakima to Granger. Others are scattered. — Areas where lead-arsenate pesticides were potentially used in Yakima County based on 1947 aerial photographs.

Contact information

Jeff Newschwander
Area-wide Contamination Coordinator (former orchard lands)
Jeff.Newschwander@ecy.wa.gov
509-454-7842

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