California's new pesticide plan sparks protest

The plan, announced this week by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, would abandon the traditional practice of assessing the environmental effects of attacking pests one by one, and instead publish a $3-million comprehensive impact report on eradicating all flies, worms, moths and other insects at once.

Such a comprehensive report would reduce oversight, according to Nan Wishner of the California Environmental Health Initiative.  “This is a huge state, with many ecosystems and bio-regions, with many threatened or endangered species, and it’s impossible to assess in detail all the implications of all possible pesticides for any pest or future pest” in one report, she said.

“They’re trying to write the Encyclopedia Britannica of pest management.”

The environmental groups also criticized the state's traditional method of quarantining crops and then spraying pesticides, a method that does not look at alternatives other than pesticides to prevent invasive species. State agricultural officials have used 294 eradication programs over 30 years to combat nine pests, Wishner said. “Every year, [they are] trying to kill same bug, and it’s not working. We don’t need to poison whole fields to get rid bugs,” she said.

Among the signatories to the letter were: Center for Biological Diversity, Physicians for Social Responsibility, California Sports Fishing Protection Alliance, San Francisco Bay Keeper, Pesticide Watch, Clean Water Action, Pesticide Action Network, and Wild Equity Institute. Steve Lyle, an agriculture department spokesman, said a comprehensive plan would allow officials  to better combat pests before they descended onto fields. If an invasive species showed up without warning, officials would declare an emergency and rush to quarantine a field and spray pesticides, with no time to put together an individual environmental impact report. 

The comprehensive assessment allows a variety of options, including integrated pest management that combines non-pesticide alternatives with pesticides. Lyle cited one event in which the European grapevine month arrived and the fruit was removed from the vine, deterring the pest without having to apply the pesticide.

Endangered Species Of Animals In California

Ike all states, California is home to many species of animals that are listed and protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Also like other states, California maintains its own list of Endangered and Threatened species.

A total of 157 California animals are on either the state list of endangered species, the federal list of endangered species, or both lists at once. As of January, 2011, the state endangered species list contained 46 animals that were listed as Endangered, and 35 animals that were listed as Threatened. California animals protected under the federal ESA include 88 Endangered animals and 40 animals that are officially Threatened. by the federal government as endangered or threatened. A total of 55 endangered or threatened species are listed by both the state and federal governments.

California animals occupying spots on one or both endangered species lists include 3 gastropods—snails and abalones—and 8 crustaceans, 7 of which are shrimp species, and one of which is a crayfish. There are more than 20 endangered and threatened insects, most of which are butterflies, with most of the remainder consisting of moths and beetles.

There are 37 endangered and threatened fish species in California, including many of the state’s native trout and salmon. Some listed fishes are the California coastal chinook salmon, three subspecies of coho, or silver, salmon, the Little Kern golden trout, and the Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The two endangered species lists also include 16 amphibians, 11 of which are salamanders. The California red-legged frog and two species of Mountain yellow-legged frog hold spots on the list, as do the black toad and the arroyo toad.

There are 14 reptiles, 35 birds, and 38 mammals on one or both of the endangered species lists. A bird that is one of the “poster children” for endangered species worldwide, the California condor, is listed as endangered on both the federal and state lists. The list of endangered and threatened mammals includes the wolverine (pictured above), 7 foxes, 6 species of kangaroo rat, 2 bighorn sheep species, and many species of whale.

See the entire list here .

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