[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 98 (Monday, May 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27933-27934]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12695]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 01-013-2]


Protection of Sunflowers from Red-Winged Blackbirds in North 
Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent and initiation of scoping.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service's Wildlife Services program intends to prepare an 
environmental impact statement for a project to protect sunflowers from 
red-winged blackbird damage. The environmental impact statement will 
analyze the potential environmental effects of reducing blackbird 
damage to ripening sunflowers in North Dakota, South Dakota, and 
Minnesota. We are also requesting comments from the public, including 
affected Federal, State, and local agencies, any affected Indian tribe, 
and any other interested persons concerning issues that should be 
addressed in the environmental impact statement. The information 
received in response to this notice, as well as the information we 
received in response to our March 2001 notice on this subject, will be 
considered during the development of the environmental impact statement 
that will be prepared in accordance with the National Environmental 
Policy Act.

DATES: We invite you to comment on this notice of intent. We will 
consider all comments that we receive by June 20, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send four copies of your comment (an original and 
three copies) to: Docket No. 01-013-2, 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. 01-013-2.
    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 in reducing 
damage, 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.
    Approximately 80 percent of sunflower production in the United 
States occurs in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Sunflower 
production in these States has increased from 1 million kg in the early 
1960's to about 1.5 billion kg, valued at $315 million, in 1999. 
However, increased production of sunflowers has been hampered by 
increasing blackbird populations, and resultant damage. Esophageal 
contents of red-winged blackbirds collected in late summer and fall 
reveal that 93 percent of the males and 86 percent of the females had 
eaten sunflower seeds, which comprised 69 percent and 57 percent of the 
male and female diets, respectively.
    Damage surveys conducted in sunflower production areas in North 
Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota 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. Sunflower damage assessments for North 
Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota showed an estimated loss of $5.1 
million in 1979 and $7.9 million in 1980. More recent quantitative bird 
damage surveys were conducted from 1996 to 1998 in Stutsman and Pierce 
Counties in North Dakota and Brown and Clark Counties in South Dakota. 
Assuming damage in these four counties is representative of the damage 
in sunflower growing areas in North Dakota, South Dakota, and 
Minnesota, sunflower producers in these States lost about $8.26 million 
annually to blackbirds.
    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.

Proposed Program

    WS is proposing to implement a blackbird damage management program 
on private lands when requested in North Dakota, South Dakota, or 
Minnesota. The management approach would employ the use of nonlethal 
and lethal techniques to reduce red-winged blackbird damage to 
sunflowers. Sunflower damage and blackbird populations would be 
monitored to determine if the management techniques are reducing 
damage, if there is an effect on blackbird populations, or if 
additional methods or modification of implemented methods should occur.

Nonlethal Techniques

    Under the proposed management program, WS would continue to employ 
the use of the nonlethal control methods described earlier in this 
document. WS would also continue to conduct roost management programs 
to disperse red-

[[Page 27934]]

winged blackbirds away from sunflower production areas. Roost 
management activities involve the treatment of cattail stands larger 
than 10 acres with glyphosate herbicide. Effective management of 
cattail stands can disperse blackbirds from traditional roosting sites 
that are often in close proximity to sunflower crops.

Lethal Techniques

    Under the proposed management program, WS would employ the use of 2 
percent DRC-1339-treated brown rice at red-winged blackbird staging 
areas in the spring to reduce breeding populations and subsequent 
damage to ripening sunflowers in the fall. DRC-1339 baiting would occur 
on not more than 50 acres in harvested fields near red-winged blackbird 
staging areas in east-central South Dakota and target not more than 2 
million red-winged blackbirds annually. The baiting areas would be 
determined based on the most current red-winged blackbird roost site 
distribution and the areas where red-winged blackbirds stage. Baiting 
areas and sites would be determined through field observations by 
trained personnel, and DRC-1339-treated bait would not be distributed 
until risks to nontarget species were evaluated.

Prior EPA-Authorized Use of DRC-1339

    The avian toxicant DRC-1339 (3-Chloro-p-toluidine hydrochloride) 
has been used to reduce blackbird populations causing agricultural 
damage in Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas under 
Section 24C of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. 
In February 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a 
Section 3 label for ``Compound DRC-1339 Concentrate Staging Areas'' for 
bird control in noncrop staging areas associated with red-winged 
blackbird roosts. The Section 24C label for ``Compound DRC-1339 
Concentrate ND and SD'' is still in effect for North Dakota because 
this label allows a broader use pattern, including baiting within 
ripening sunflower fields during late summer.

Scoping Process

    The initial step in the process of developing an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) is scoping. Scoping includes solicitation of 
public involvement in the form of either written or oral comments, and 
evaluation of these comments. This process is used for determining the 
scope of issues to be addressed. We are therefore asking for written 
comments that identify significant environmental issues that should be 
analyzed in the EIS. We invite comments from affected Federal, State, 
and local agencies, any affected Indian tribe, and any other interested 
persons, and from Federal and State agencies that have either 
jurisdiction by law or special expertise regarding any issue or 
environmental impact that should be discussed in the EIS.

    Note: On March 22, 2001, we published a notice in the Federal 
Register (66 FR 16028-16031, Docket No. 01-013-1) soliciting public 
involvement in the development of issues necessary to complete an 
analysis of the environmental impacts of reducing red-winged 
blackbird damage to ripening sunflowers in North Dakota, South 
Dakota, and Minnesota. We solicited comments on that notice for 30 
days ending on April 23, 2001, and received 163 comments by the 
close of the comment period and an additional 27 comments by April 
30, 2001. We will consider all the comments that we received in 
response to our March 22, 2001, notice during the preparation of the 
EIS that is the subject of this notice. Therefore, if you submitted 
comments in response the March 2001 notice, you do not need to 
resubmit those comments in order for the information provided in 
them to be considered during the development of the EIS.

    We are encouraging members of the public and interested agencies 
and organizations to assist in the planning of this program and the 
development of an EIS by answering the following questions:
     What issues or concerns about the proposed sunflower 
protection program should we analyze?
     What alternatives to the proposed action should we 
analyze?
     Do you have additional information (i.e., scientific data 
or studies) that we should consider in the analysis?

Alternatives

    We will consider all reasonable and realistic action alternatives 
recommended in the comments we receive. The following alternatives have 
already been identified for comprehensive analysis in the EIS:
     No involvement by WS in sunflower protection (no Federal 
program);
     Non-lethal before lethal program;
     Continue the current WS blackbird damage management 
program;
     Integrated adaptive management with the use of DRC-1339 
baiting to reduce damage caused by red-winged blackbirds (preferred 
action);
     Lethal only program; and
     Payment of compensation to affected growers.

Major Issues

    The following are some of the major issues that will be discussed 
in the EIS:
     Cumulative effects of the proposed damage management 
program on red-winged blackbird populations;
     Safety concerns regarding the potential effects of the 
proposed damage management program on the public, domestic pets, and 
nontarget species, including threatened and endangered species;
     Efficacy of DRC-1339 spring baiting in reducing damage to 
unharvested sunflowers;
     Public concern about WS' use of chemicals; and
     DRC-1339 spring baiting effects on biodiversity.
    Other alternatives and issues may also be included in the analysis 
and will be identified based on comments submitted by the public and 
other agencies and organizations.

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 16th day of May 2001.
Craig A. Reed,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 01-12695 Filed 5-18-01; 8:45 am]
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