Action Needed NOW!
No pesticides in the fragile Rio Chama Ecosystem
Last week, during Official Pollinator Week, New Mexico Wild became aware of plans by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to spray the pesticide carbaryl over a large area of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Rio Arriba County. The plan entails the use of aircraft for aerial application of 782 gallons of carbaryl over an approximately 40 square mile area. It is intended to control native grasshopper and cricket populations to benefit grazing operations in the area.
The project area overlaps with a substantial portion of the Rio Chama Wilderness Study Area, is contiguous with the northern boundary of the Chama River Canyon Wilderness, is only about a mile away from the Rio Chama Wild and Scenic River corridor, and is nearer yet to numerous tributaries to the Rio Chama.
The area is home to pollinators critical to ecosystems and our food supply chain, numerous fish and wildlife species, and an array of other ecological, cultural, and recreational resources.
This precious ecosystem would suffer grave harm should APHIS's plan go forward.
Indiscriminate aerial spraying of carbaryl would heavily impact pollinators and wildlife in the area – the EPA has determined that this pesticide is highly toxic to insects, including native bees, honeybees, and aquatic insects; slightly to highly toxic to fish; highly to very highly toxic to most aquatic crustaceans; moderately toxic to mammals; moderately to highly toxic to several terrestrial arthropod predators; and slightly to highly toxic to larval amphibians. The EPA has also determined that carbaryl is likely carcinogenic to humans, and exposure to carbaryl can cause nausea, headaches, dizziness, anxiety, mental confusion, as well as convulsions, coma, and death.
APHIS's plan does not adequately analyze or disclose the full breadth of impacts of this project and it includes no process for public notification of the timing or location of pesticide treatments.
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