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Protection of Sunflowers From Red-Winged Blackbird Damage in North Dakota and South Dakota; Request for Public Involvement
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: December 6, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 235)]
[Notices]
[Page 63356-63358]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06de01-20]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
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statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[Page 63356]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 01-013-3]
Protection of Sunflowers From Red-Winged Blackbird Damage in
North Dakota and South Dakota; Request for Public Involvement
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability of scoping document.
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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.
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.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket
No. 01-013-3, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state
that your comment refers to Docket No. 01-013-3. If you use e-mail,
address your comment to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your comment must
be contained in the body of your message; do not send attached files.
Please include your name and address in your message and ``Docket No.
01-013-3'' on the subject line.
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 available on the Internet at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html 
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Phil Mastrangelo, State Director,
Wildlife Services, APHIS, USDA, 2110 Miriam Circle, Suite A, Bismarck,
ND 58501-2502; phone (701) 250-4405.
SUPPLEMENTARY 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 year-to-year 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 $4-7 million annually in North Dakota
and South Dakota.
Sunflower growers and Government agencies have used both lethal and
nonlethal techniques to reduce red-winged 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 bird-resistant
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 program--to reduce the level of blackbird damage to
sunflower crops in North Dakota and South Dakota to no more than 5
percent in individual sunflower fields--is 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 16028-16031, Docket No. 01-013-1),
and May 21, 2001 (66 FR 27933-27934, Docket No. 01-013-2), 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 non-lethal 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 DRC-1339. Spring baiting with DRC-1339-treated 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 east-central 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 red-winged
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 DRC-1339
spring baiting and cattail management to reduce sunflower damage. WS
biologists would also evaluate and monitor the effects on populations
of blackbirds and non-target 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/non-lethal 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 non-target species of plants and
wildlife, including Federally and State-protected species, from the use
of DRC-1339 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 non-target plants
and animals; (3) degree of humaneness of lethal methods for reducing
blackbird populations; (4) cost-effectiveness 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
non-herbicidal 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:
What are your concerns regarding the current program and
the proposed changes (issues)?
What are your concerns regarding environmental impacts
that you want us to study in the EIS (issues)?
How does this program affect you and how do you feel about
protecting sunflowers from blackbird damage?
What other ways of reducing damage to sunflower crops in
North Dakota and South Dakota (alternatives) do you want us to
consider?
What ways of reducing environmental impacts (mitigation
measures) do you want us to consider?
What way would you prefer that we reduce blackbird damage
to sunflower crops (preferred alternative)?
[[Page 63358]]
What methods would you like us to use to evaluate
environmental impacts?
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. 01-30258 Filed 12-5-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-U