[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 235 (Thursday, December 6, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63356-63358]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30258]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2001 / 
Notices  

[[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 [email protected]. 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