[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 81 (Wednesday, April 26, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 24445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10386]


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 Notices
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 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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 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 81 / Wednesday, April 26, 2000 / 
Notices  

[[Page 24445]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00-039-1]


Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 
Significant Impact

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment 
and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to a program for the 
control of the Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis 
(Motschulsky). The environmental assessment provides a basis for our 
conclusion that the implementation of our proposed program to contain 
the Asian longhorned beetle will not have a significant impact on the 
quality of the human environment. Based on its finding of no 
significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has 
determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no 
significant impact are available for public inspection at USDA, room 
1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except holidays. Persons wishing to inspect these documents are 
requested to call (202) 690-2817 before coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael B. Stefan, Operations 
Officer, Invasive Species and Pest Management, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 
Road Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-8247.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, an insect 
native to China, Japan, Korea, and the Isle of Hainan, is a destructive 
pest of hardwood trees. It is known to attack healthy maple, horse 
chestnut, birch, Rose of Sharon, poplar, willow, elm, locust, mulberry, 
chinaberry, apple, cherry, pear, and citrus trees. It may also attack 
other species of hardwood trees. In addition, nursery stock, logs, 
green lumber, firewood, stumps, roots, branches, and debris of one-half 
inch or more in diameter are subject to infestation. The beetle bores 
into the heartwood of a host tree, eventually killing it. Immature 
beetles bore into tree trunks and branches, causing heavy sap flow from 
wounds and sawdust accumulation at tree bases. They feed on, and 
overwinter in, the interiors of trees. Adult beetles emerge in the 
spring and summer months from round holes approximately 3/8-inch 
diameter (about the size of a dime) that they bore through the trunks 
of trees. After emerging, adult beetles feed for 2 to 3 days and then 
mate. Adult females then lay eggs in oviposition sites that they make 
on the branches of trees. A new generation of Asian longhorned beetle 
is produced each year. If this pest moves into the hardwood forests of 
the United States, the nursery and forest products industries could 
experience severe economic losses.
    The Asian longhorned beetle regulations (7 CFR 301.51-1 through 
301.51-9) restrict the interstate movement of regulated articles from 
quarantined areas to prevent the artificial spread of Asian longhorned 
beetle to noninfested areas of the United States. Portions of New York 
City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties in the State of New York and 
portions of Cook County, Du Page County, and the village of Summit in 
the State of Illinois are already designated as quarantined areas.
    APHIS' current Asian longhorned beetle eradication activities are 
limited to the removal and destruction of trees that are determined to 
be infested with Asian longhorned beetle. Because current eradication 
efforts have been unsuccessful, APHIS has evaluated additional control 
methods available to help eradicate this destructive pest from the 
United States.
    To provide the public with APHIS' review and analysis of 
environmental impacts associated with these control methods, we have 
prepared an environmental assessment and finding of no significant 
impact entitled, ``Asian Longhorned Beetle Program,'' dated February 
2000. The environmental assessment considers various methods to protect 
trees against the harmful effects of the Asian longhorned beetle and 
provides a basis for our conclusion that there would be no significant 
impact on the quality of the human environment from implementation of 
soil or trunk injection insecticide treatments of trees.
    The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact 
may be viewed on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/ead/alb.html. You may request paper copies of the environmental assessment 
and finding of no significant impact by calling or writing to the 
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to 
the title of the environmental assessment when requesting copies. The 
environmental assessment is also available for review in our reading 
room (information on the location and hours of the reading room is 
listed under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice).
    The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact 
have been prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 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 1), and (4) APHIS' NEPA 
Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 19th day of April 2000.
Bobby R. Acord,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 00-10386 Filed 4-25-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P