[BCNnet] Fw: Public input on Red-winged Blackbird control sought

[Darrell J Shambaugh]

Last week on IBET I saw some comments about shooting balckbirds in the
Dakotas. Here is something from the South Dakota listserve, sd-birds.

Darrell Shambaugh
Somonauk, DeKalb County
dshambaugh@prairienet.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Tallman, Dan <tallmand@northern.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of sd-birds <sd-birds@science.northern.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 6:32 PM
Subject: FW: Public input on Red-winged Blackbird control sought


> see below and article in December 2001 Bird Notes.
>
> dan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ellen Paul
> To: ORNITH-L@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
> Sent: 12/10/01 5:16 PM
> Subject: Public input on Red-winged Blackbird control sought
>
> See below. I have posted the entire notice because it isn't very long.
> Unfortunately, the scoping document does not seem to be available on the
> APHIS website. It looks like you will have to write or call:
>
> Mr. Phil Mastrangelo, State Director,
> Wildlife Services, APHIS, USDA, 2110 Miriam Circle, Suite A, Bismarck,
> ND 58501-2502; phone (701) 250-4405.
>
> Ellen
>
> --
> Ellen Paul
> Executive Director
> The Ornithological Council
> Mailto:epaul@concentric.net
> Ornithological Council Website:  http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET
> "Providing Scientific Information about Birds"
>
>
> ========================================================================
> DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
>
> Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
> 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.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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 regulations@aphis.usda.gov
> <mailto:regulations@aphis.usda.gov>. 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
> <http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html
> &log=linklog&to=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 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)?
>
>      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.
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