Federal Register: December 6, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 235)
DOCID: FR Doc 01-30258
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Docket ID: [Docket No. 01-013-3]
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Environmental statements; availability, etc.:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of availability of scoping document.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Protection of Sunflowers From Red-Winged Blackbird Damage in North Dakota and South Dakota; Request for Public Involvement
DATES: We invite you to comment on the scoping document. We will consider all comments we receive that are postmarked, delivered, or e mailed by January 7, 2002.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Wildlife Services program has developed a scoping document for an environmental impact statement being prepared to analyze the potential environmental effects of reducing blackbird damage to ripening sunflowers in North Dakota and South Dakota. This scoping document addresses the comments received and issues raised in response to our March 2001 and May 2001 notices on this subject. The information received in response to this notice, as well as the information received previously, will be considered during development of an environmental impact statement prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
SUMMARY:
North Dakota and South Dakota; sunflowers protection from red-winged blackbird damage; scoping document availability,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Wildlife Services (WS) of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) provides technical and operational assistance to entities who request assistance to reduce damage caused by wildlife, in this case to sunflower producers. WS loans damage abatement equipment (e.g., propane cannons, pyrotechnics), conducts training workshops, provides informational leaflets on damage management and sources of damage abatement tools, and, in the case of blackbird damage to sunflowers, conducts roost management programs to disperse blackbirds from sunflower production areas.
In 2000, approximately 81 percent of the sunflower production in the United States occurred in North Dakota and South Dakota. In North Dakota, the acreage of sunflower increased from 12,500 acres in 1962 to 1.3 million acres in 2000, with a commercial value of $125 million. In South Dakota, sunflower acreage increased from 132,000 acres in 1977 to 719,000 acres in 2000, with a commercial value of $63 million. However, increased production of sunflowers has been hampered by damage associated with blackbirds feeding on the ripening crop.
Damage surveys conducted in sunflower production areas in North Dakota and South Dakota indicate that overall loss is generally 1 to 2 percent of the crop. If all producers received less than 2 percent damage, there would be little concern for damage caused by blackbirds. However, damage is not equally distributed, can be severe for some producers, and is fairly consistent from yeartoyear within a locality. Research has been conducted throughout the northern Great Plains to estimate the amount of damage birds have caused to ripening sunflower crops. Historically, sunflower damage surveys have estimated blackbird damage to range from $47 million annually in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Sunflower growers and Government agencies have used both lethal and nonlethal techniques to reduce redwinged blackbird damage to ripening sunflowers. The goal of nonlethal methods is to decrease the availability or attractiveness of the crop to blackbirds or to disperse the birds so that damage is not concentrated in any given area. Examples of nonlethal methods include altering farming practices, using audio and visual frightening devices, growing birdresistant sunflowers, increasing weed control in fields, and growing decoy crops. Additionally, research has shown that opening dense cattail stands, which are traditional roost sites for blackbirds, aids in dispersing blackbirds from nearby sunflower crops. To date, nonlethal blackbird damage management initiatives have been somewhat effective in reducing blackbird damage to unharvested sunflowers, but have not alleviated the problem for all sunflower growers.
Scoping Document
The scoping document made available by this notice explains why WS
is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) to analyze the
potential environmental effects of reducing blackbird damage to
ripening sunflowers in North Dakota and South Dakota. This scoping
document describes and defines the blackbird damage problem to
sunflower crops grown in North Dakota and South Dakota. The goal of the WS blackbird
[[Page 63357]]
damage management programto reduce the level of blackbird damage to
sunflower crops in North Dakota and South Dakota to no more than 5 percent in individual sunflower fieldsis also explained.
Included in the scoping document is a summary of the WS role in managing blackbird damage. This includes past research efforts by WS' National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC), an overview of proposed future research, and a summary of WS operational programs. Information regarding State and academic programs, and the efforts of sunflower producers for reducing blackbird damage, is also provided. The scoping document details the Federal and State laws that are applicable to the reduction of blackbird damage.
Based on WS' experience and comments received in response to our
previous notices on the subject, which were published in the Federal
Register on March 22, 2001 (66 FR 1602816031, Docket No. 010131),
and May 21, 2001 (66 FR 2793327934, Docket No. 010132), WS proposes
to analyze three alternatives for detailed evaluation in the EIS:
(1) Continue the Current Operational Wildlife Services Program of
Technical Assistance and Cattail Management in North Dakota and South
Dakota, and Associated Research (No Action Alternative). Under this
alternative, WS' professional wildlife biologists would continue to
respond to requests for assistance with blackbird damage to sunflower
crops, using all the lethal and nonlethal techniques currently
available. WS would continue to provide technical assistance to
sunflower producers. The cattail management program would continue at
its current level (70 percent maximum treatment per wetland, up to
6,000 acres annually). Current and future NWRC research activities
regarding blackbird damage management to sunflower crops and associated blackbird biology would continue.
(2) Integrated Adaptive Management Program. Under this alternative,
WS' professional wildlife biologists would continue to use, as
appropriate, all available damage management techniques for reducing
blackbird damage to sunflower crops. This could include chemical
repellents and frightening devices. WS would continue to provide technical assistance to sunflower producers.
Cattail management would continue under this alternative. However, treatment of cattail wetlands would increase to 8,000 acres annually from the current level of 6,000 acres.
The WS operational program could also include spring baiting using the avian toxicant DRC1339. Spring baiting with DRC1339treated rice could be conducted for 5 years beginning at the end of March and continuing through the third week of April each year. Up to 25 bait plots of 2 acres each would be treated in eastcentral South Dakota (possible counties include Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Hamlin, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, and Moody Counties). Bait plots would be established near blackbird staging areas in harvested grain fields. Spring baiting is intended to reduce the population of redwinged blackbirds by up to 2 million each year to reduce fall damage to sunflowers. North Dakota State University researchers determined likely blackbird baiting sites based on studies of habitat preferences of spring migratory blackbirds.
Under this alternative, extensive program monitoring would be conducted by WS personnel, in cooperation with the NWRC and North Dakota State University, to determine the effectiveness of DRC1339 spring baiting and cattail management to reduce sunflower damage. WS biologists would also evaluate and monitor the effects on populations of blackbirds and nontarget species. Monitoring would include blackbird population surveys, sunflower damage assessments, and the study of habitat variables, migration timing and patterns, and related climate variations within selected plots in sunflower production areas. If monitoring results indicate that spring baiting does not reduce sunflower damage, the spring baiting program would be terminated. (3) Implement State, Private, and Sunflower Producer Damage Management Actions, with no Wildlife Services Programs. Under this alternative, WS would not participate in or implement any wildlife damage assessments or programs for reducing blackbird damage to sunflower crops in North Dakota and South Dakota. No technical assistance, research, lethal/nonlethal programs, cattail management, or any other related actions would be provided by WS. Certain functions of the present WS program would most likely be conducted by individual sunflower producers. All requests made to WS for sunflower crop protection would be referred to the North Dakota and South Dakota Departments of Agriculture, other Federal or State agencies, private businesses, or organizations, as appropriate.
The scoping document explains why five suggested alternatives will not be evaluated in detail in the EIS. These include: (1) Create and implement crop damage insurance against blackbird depredation; (2) financial compensation for economic losses to sunflower crops caused by blackbirds; (3) eradicate blackbirds; (4) reintroduce cougars, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, and other predator species to reduce populations of depredating blackbirds in North Dakota and South Dakota; and (5) physical exclusion of blackbirds from sunflower fields with netting or other material.
The scoping document identifies issues proposed for detailed analysis in the EIS. These include: (1) The cumulative impact on populations of target blackbird and nontarget species of plants and wildlife, including Federally and Stateprotected species, from the use of DRC1339 and glyphosate; (2) effects on biodiversity, including effects of glyphosate on terrestrial and wetland biodiversity, effects on terrestrial biodiversity from reducing populations of blackbirds, including impacts on insect populations, and effects on terrestrial biodiversity from reducing populations of terrestrial nontarget plants and animals; (3) degree of humaneness of lethal methods for reducing blackbird populations; (4) costeffectiveness of Federal actions for reducing economic impacts of blackbird depredation on sunflower crops; (5) potential for and impacts of exotic and nuisance plant species to invade wetlands after treatment with glyphosate; and (6) impacts of nonherbicidal components of glyphosate, such as surfactants, on insect populations.
The scoping document may be obtained from the person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. We ask you to please read the scoping document and let us know, at a minimum:
[[Page 63358]]
Preparation of the EIS
Following completion of the scoping process, we will prepare a draft EIS for the program to protect sunflowers from blackbird damage. A notice announcing that the draft EIS is available for review will then be published in the Federal Register. The notice will also request comments concerning the draft EIS.
Done in Washington, DC, this 30th day of November, 2001. W. Ron DeHaven,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 0130258 Filed 12501; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 341034U
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Mr. Phil Mastrangelo, State Director, Wildlife Services, APHIS, USDA, 2110 Miriam Circle, Suite A, Bismarck, ND 585012502; phone (701) 2504405.