LEWISTOWN, Ill. - In August 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new herbicide strategy aimed at better aligning with the Endangered Species Act. This new strategy will alter pesticide labels by adding extra mitigation measures that seek to reduce pesticide exposure to over 900 endangered species in the contiguous U.S.
The Endangered Species Act was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1973. This important piece of legislation provides a framework to protect threatened or endangered species and their critical habitats and has been credited for saving numerous species, including the bald eagle, from extinction. The law also directs all federal agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize these “listed” species or their critical habitat.
You may wonder why a law implemented over fifty years ago is now driving changes to EPA policy. The answer to that lies in a recent court settlement that resolved a lawsuit brought by an environmental group that argued the EPA was failing to meet its obligations to protect endangered species from pesticides. As part of the landmark settlement, the EPA agreed to develop a strategy to better protect endangered species from herbicides by 2024 and insecticides by 2025.
The strategy is not self-implementing and will result in changes to individual herbicide labels as part of the registration process. In other words, we will see changes over time as EPA registers new products and renews registrations for existing products. Farmers and pesticide applicators need to be aware of these changes and should make sure to consult the most up-to-date product label for each pesticide that they use. Note that for now, these new guidelines are for agricultural use only and do not apply to pesticides applied in home or commercial landscapes.
Herbicides determined to have the potential to impact listed species at a population level will require mitigations either on a product’s entire use area or in geographically specific regions. Required mitigations for an entire use area will be listed directly on the product label and will be categorized by run-off/erosion potential and/or spray drift potential.
Required mitigations that are specific to geographic location will direct applicators via the pesticide label to visit the EPA website Bulletins Live! Two, www.epa.gov/endangered-species/endangered-species-protection-bulletins, up to six months before the scheduled application to check for any active bulletins in the application area. The online tool allows users to navigate to their specific area by using the search tool.
Alternately, pesticides that require mitigations for all use areas will list those right on the product label and may include run-off/erosion mitigations or drift mitigations, or both.
Run-off/erosion mitigations will be based on a points system requiring applicators to achieve from one up to nine points. Mitigation relief points are automatically available based upon a region’s run-off vulnerability rating, a factor especially influenced by differences in frequency and amount of rainfall. Fulton and Mason counties in Illinois, for example, receive two relief points right off the bat. Any additionally required mitigation points, dependent upon each individual herbicide product, are cumulative and can be earned by selecting from a menu of options including but not limited to, reduced tillage, cover crops, and waterways. A full menu of mitigation options along with a user guide and calculator tool can be found on the EPA website www.epa.gov/pesticides/mitigation-menu
Drift mitigations will include downwind buffers ranging from 10 up to 320 feet but can be reduced on a percentage basis by implementing one or multiple mitigation practices, which are again cumulative and of the applicator’s choosing. Options include but are not limited to spray droplet size reductions and presence/addition of windbreaks. It is important to note that certain managed land areas will qualify to be included within the buffer distance. In other words, roads, buildings, farm fields, and Conservation Reserve Program lands located downwind from spray applications may satisfy all or a portion of the buffer distance.
The EPA’s Final Herbicide Strategy as it relates to the Endangered Species Act aims to protect threatened species and their critical habitats while allowing farmers and applicators reliable access to the pesticides they need. While the guidelines may seem complex, the framework presents farmers and pesticide applicators flexibility in how best to meet the mitigation needs for their unique operations. Illinois Extension stands ready to assist farmers interested in hearing more about how to implement new practices on their lands.
More information regarding the EPA herbicide strategy can be found on the Farm Coach blog at extension.illinois.edu/blogs/farm-coach
Tara Heath is a Commercial Agriculture Educator for Illinois Extension serving Fulton, Mason, Peoria, and Tazewell counties.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.