[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 24, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38414-38415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18389]


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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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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 142 / Tuesday, July 24, 2001 / 
Notices  

[[Page 38414]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 01-039-1]


Giant Salvinia; Availability of an Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment relative to 
a demonstration project to eradicate and prevent the spread of the 
aquatic weed giant salvinia in the Toledo Bend Reservoir and 
surrounding areas in Louisiana and eastern Texas. The environmental 
assessment documents our review and analysis of the environmental 
impacts associated with the alternative actions under consideration. 
Among the alternative actions considered in the assessment is a program 
using an integrated approach to eradicate giant salvinia from the 
Toledo Bend Reservoir and surrounding areas in Louisiana and eastern 
Texas. We are making this environmental assessment available to the 
public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive by August 23, 
2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send four copies of your comment (an original and 
three copies) to: Docket No. 01-039-1, 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. 01-039-1.
    You may read any comments that we receive on this environmental 
assessment 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: Dr. Alan V. Tasker, National Weed 
Program Coordinator, Invasive Species and Pest Management, PPQ, APHIS, 
4700 River Road Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-5225.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) is a free-floating aquatic fern, 
native to South America, with a tremendous growth rate and the 
potential to significantly affect water-reliant agricultural 
industries, recreation, and the ecology of freshwater habitats 
throughout much of the United States.
    Giant salvinia reproduces vegetatively through fragmenting and from 
dormant buds breaking away. A colony consists of many leaf pairs 
connected by branching rhizomes. The colony is easily broken, thus 
producing viable fragments. The colonizing or immature stage of giant 
salvinia is characterized by small leaves that lie flat upon the water. 
As the plants rapidly expand and compete for space, the leaves become 
larger, crowding occurs, and the plants are pushed upright. Mats may 
grow to a meter thick and can cover large areas. Giant salvinia grows 
best in stagnant or slow-moving water, and the plant can tolerate a 
wide pH range. While able to survive severe winters, giant salvinia 
grows best in temperatures ranging between 25  deg.C to 28  deg.C (77 
deg.F to 81  deg.F).
    Because giant salvinia is a free-floating plant, it disperses by 
passive means (water currents and wind) and by ``hitchhiking.'' Animals 
may carry the plants over short distances, but humans can spread it 
widely on fishing gear and boating equipment. Intercontinental 
dispersal and dispersal within the United States probably have occurred 
when giant salvinia was sold in the nursery trade, either intentionally 
as a plant for aquaria or for ponds, or unintentionally when it 
``hitchhikes'' with other aquatic plants collected for academic study 
or for use in aquaria or ponds. Although native to southeastern Brazil, 
giant salvinia is now found in North America, South America, Africa, 
Asia, Australia, New Guinea, and Oceania.
    The dominant characteristic of giant salvinia is its tremendous 
growth rate, which makes it an aggressive invader. Observations at the 
Toledo Bend Reservoir, which is located on the border between eastern 
Texas and western Louisiana, noted that a small, unobstructed patch of 
giant salvinia doubled in size in a few days during the winter of 1998-
1999.
    Where it occurs outside its native range, particularly in the 
tropics and subtropics, giant salvinia has become a problematic aquatic 
weed with the potential to choke irrigation systems, streams, and 
lakes. The mats also may harbor snails and insects that carry human and 
animal diseases. In a single growing season, giant salvinia can destroy 
a thriving water community by forming a destructive mass, halting 
transportation, killing fish, and promoting disease. Giant salvinia is 
considered a direct threat to rice farming. It gives off hydrogen 
sulfide (H2S), which can damage copper components of 
hydroelectric generators. The thick mats, which can develop on open 
lakes, are avoided by small and large boats alike.
    In the past several years, giant salvinia has been detected in the 
United States, mostly in association with the nursery trade in aquatic 
plants. Generally, detections have been in small, confined sites and 
are currently contained or have been eradicated. Such detections have 
occurred in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, 
Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and 
Virginia. Of more serious and immediate concern is the current 
infestation in the Toledo Bend Reservoir and the surrounding areas in 
Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Toledo Bend Reservoir infestation is a 
major one in a large body of water.
    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) listed giant 
salvinia as a noxious weed in 1983.

[[Page 38415]]

Under APHIS' regulations, no person may move giant salvinia into or 
through the United States, or interstate, unless he or she obtains a 
permit for the movement from APHIS.
    Because current efforts to eradicate giant salvinia in the Toledo 
Bend Reservoir and the surrounding areas in Louisiana and eastern Texas 
have been unsuccessful, APHIS has evaluated additional control methods 
available to help eradicate this noxious weed. These control methods 
include:
     An integrated control approach utilizing herbicides and 
mechanical, biological, and regulatory controls.
     A biological control program that requires no herbicide 
application.
    APHIS' review and analysis of the potential environmental impacts 
associated with these control methods are documented in detail in an 
environmental assessment (EA) entitled, ``Demonstration Project: Giant 
Salvinia, Toledo Bend Reservoir and Surrounding Areas in Louisiana and 
Eastern Texas'' (March 2001).
    The EA may be viewed on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/
ppd/es/ppqdocs.html. You may request paper copies of the EA by calling 
or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 
Please refer to the title of the EA when requesting copies. The EA is 
also available for review in our reading room (information on the 
location and hours of the reading room is provided under the heading 
ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice).
    The EA has 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 18th day of July 2001.
Bobby R. Acord,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 01-18389 Filed 7-23-01; 8:45 am]
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