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Rangeland Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Control Activities

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: August 14, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 157)]
[Notices]
[Page 49533-49534]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14au00-34]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00-074-1]


Rangeland Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Control Activities

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we intend to prepare an
environmental impact statement regarding the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service's rangeland grasshopper and Mormon cricket control
activities. The environmental impact statement will analyze the
potential environmental effects of various efforts by the agency to
control grasshoppers and Mormon crickets on rangelands in the United
States. We invite the public to comment on what issues we should
address in the environmental impact statement.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive by September 13,
2000.

ADDRESSES: Please send your comment and three copies to: Docket No. 00-
074-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Suite 3C03,
4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that
your comment refers to Docket No. 00-074-1.
    You may read any comments that we receive on this docket in our
reading room. The reading room is located in room 1141 of the USDA
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
    APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who
have commented on APHIS dockets, are

[[Page 49534]]

available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/
webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ron P. Milberg, Operations
Officer, Invasive Species and Pest Management, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River
Road Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-8247.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Grasshoppers and Mormon crickets are members of the Class Insecta,
Order Orthoptera, which contains several hundred species, although only
about 35 species are perennial pests of plants. Grasshoppers and Mormon
crickets have the potential for sudden and explosive population
increases, which can be so extreme that all vegetation is consumed in
outbreak situations. These infestations are often so extensive that
individual land managers alone cannot control the damage.
    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) conducts
grasshopper and Mormon cricket control activities at the request of
States and individuals who are unable to control infestations of
grasshoppers and Mormon crickets on rangelands. Rangelands that are
affected by grasshopper and Mormon cricket infestations are located in
the Western United States.
    Significant new information and new grasshopper and Mormon cricket
control techniques have become available since we last prepared an
environmental impact statement (EIS) relative to APHIS' rangeland
grasshopper and Mormon cricket control activities (USDA-APHIS-FEIS;
Rangeland Grasshopper Cooperative Management Program; see 52 FR 8938,
March 20, 1987). Based on the availability of the new information and
techniques, we are planning to prepare a new EIS relative to APHIS'
activities related to the control of rangeland grasshoppers and Mormon
crickets. The EIS will examine the environmental effects of control
alternatives available to the agency, including a no action
alternative. It will be used for planning and decisionmaking and to
inform the public about the environmental effects of APHIS' rangeland
grasshopper and Mormon cricket control activities. It will also provide
an overview of APHIS activities to which we can tier site-specific
analyses and environmental assessments.
    We are asking for written comments that identify significant
environmental issues that we should analyze in the EIS. We invite
comments from the public, including private industry, as well as
Federal, State, and local governments that have an interest in APHIS'
rangeland grasshopper and Mormon cricket control activities.
    In the event that Federal land management agencies elect to conduct
an analysis of all available rangeland grasshopper and Mormon cricket
management alternatives (e.g., chemical control, biological control,
range management, integrated pest management, etc.), APHIS will
cooperate with those agencies by providing information and analyses
related to its rangeland grasshopper and Mormon cricket control
activities. Otherwise, APHIS will prepare an EIS analyzing only those
control alternatives reasonably available to APHIS, along with a no
action alternative.
    This notice and the upcoming EIS are intended to fulfill the
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. We will publish
a notice announcing the availability of the draft EIS for review in the
Federal Register. The notice will also request comments on the draft
EIS.
    This notice is issued in accordance with: (1) The National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.), (2)
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA
regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA
Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 7th day of August 2000.
Bobby R. Acord,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 00-20488 Filed 8-11-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P

 
 

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