Document
Notice of Availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Approval of Herbicide Active Ingredients for Use on Public Lands
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of La...
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
This document provides notice that the BLM has prepared a final programmatic EIS for a review of active ingredients that may be approved for use in vegetation treatments on BLM-managed public lands.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The BLM's purpose and need is to improve the effectiveness of its invasive plant management efforts by allowing the use of EPA-registered active ingredients not currently authorized for use on BLM public lands. Approving additional active ingredients would diversify the BLM's herbicide treatment options and help meet the purposes that were first identified in the 2007 and 2016 programmatic EISs related to vegetation treatments, which are to make herbicides available for vegetation treatment on public lands and to describe the stipulations that apply to their use.
Proposed Action and Alternatives
The proposed action is to approve the following herbicide active ingredients for use in vegetation treatments on public lands: aminocyclopyrachlor, clethodim, fluozifop-p-butyl, flumioxazin, imazamox, indaziflam, and oryzalin. These active ingredients are registered by the EPA. As part of the process for evaluating whether to approve these active ingredients, the BLM will adopt and depend on Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments prepared by the U.S. Forest Service.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
The BLM anticipates releasing a Record of Decision in January 2024.
Responsible Official
Assistant Director for Resources and Planning.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
Through this process, the BLM will decide whether to approve the seven additional herbicide active ingredients identified earlier for use on BLM-managed public lands. This decision will be based on the best available science and current needs for vegetation management. Any authorization to apply any of these active ingredients at a particular site will be made through a separate, site-specific decision and so is not within the scope of the programmatic EIS or potential decision described in this notice.
Public Participation
In addition to making the draft programmatic EIS available for public comment and review, the BLM hosted a virtual public meeting during the public comment period. The agency received 46 comments, which were incorporated in the final programmatic EIS as appropriate. In coordination with comments received from Native American Tribes, the BLM emphasizes, in the EIS, the need to coordinate with local Tribes during implementation-level analyses and authorizations to reduce and avoid impacts to Tribes that may gather and use native plant materials for cultural or subsistence purposes.
Comments on the draft EIS received from the public and from internal BLM review were considered and incorporated as appropriate into the final EIS. These comments resulted in the addition of clarifying text but did not significantly change the impact analysis.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Brian St George,
Acting Assistant Director for Resources and Planning.