FWS allows 'lawful' pesticide use within range of threatened bat
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2016 - Farmers who engage in legal use
of pesticides cannot be found liable for harming northern long-eared bats,
which have been listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act.
The Fish and Wildlife Service put the bat on the list nearly
a year ago but just finalized a “4(d) rule,” so called for the section of the
ESA that allows the service to tailor conservation measures for specific
threatened species.
In
the rule, published Jan. 14 in the Federal Register, FWS said it was not
necessary to grant farm groups’ request to exempt everyday farming activities
from the ESA’s prohibition against species “take” – which includes harm and
harassment, among other things.
The final rule applies prohibitions on activities “where
necessary and advisable for conservation of the species. Therefore,
agricultural development and operations do not need to be specifically ‘excepted,’”
the service said in its final rule.
But
FWS also explicitly said that lawful pesticide use would not trigger the
prohibitions in the law against “incidental take” of listed species. CropLife
America, Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment and the American Farm
Bureau Federation all had asked FWS for the clarification.
The
biggest threat faced by the northern long-eared bat is white-nose syndrome
(WNS), a fungal disease that has decimated bat populations throughout the
United States. In its rule, FWS prohibits the taking of any northern long-eared
bats within WNS zones, defined as counties in the bat’s range that are within
150 miles of the boundaries of U.S. counties or Canadian districts where the
fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) or (white-nose syndrome)
has been detected.
FWS
said it is “unclear whether environmental contaminants, regardless of the
source (e.g., pesticide applications, industrial wastewater) would be
expected to cause population-level impacts to the northern long-eared bat
either independently or in concert with WNS.”
Despite
that lack of knowledge, the service said it “recognized the potential for
direct and indirect consequences. However, contaminant-related mortality has
not been reported for northern long-eared bats.”
The
bat’s range includes 38 states, mostly east of the Mississippi River, but also
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
The
Center for Biological Diversity said
the rule goes too easy on activities in the bat’s range. “The rule allows
logging and land-clearing to occur anywhere other than within 150 feet of where
the bats are known to summer — called a roost tree — or within a quarter-mile
of a known hibernacula, where the bats hibernate. This means most forestry,
pesticide use, oil, gas and wind energy developments, pipelines and any other
land-clearing can proceed. Such activities are normally prohibited under the (Endangered
Species) Act,” CBD said.
Although continuing to review the details of the rule,
CropLife America (CLA) said it was “pleased that FWS recognized that the lawful
application of pesticides do not pose a threat to the northern long-eared bat.
Crop protection products are important tools for America’s farmers and ranchers
and, when applied according to label directions, pose only minimal concerns to
wildlife and the environment. The recent FWS 4(d) rule reflects the strong
regulation in place under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA).”
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