[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 157 (Monday, August 14, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49533-49534]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20488]


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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]
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