[Federal Register: March 5, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 43)]
[Notices]
[Page 10435-10436]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05mr03-22]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[Page 10435]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 03-021-1]
Tropical Soda Apple; Availability of an Environmental Assessment
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment
has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
relative to the control of tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum Dunal
(Solanaceae). The environmental assessment considers the effects of,
and alternatives to, the release of a nonindigenous beetle, Gratiana
boliviana Spaeth (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), into the environment as a
biological control agent to reduce the severity of infestations of
tropical soda apple in Florida and other infested States in the
continental United States. We are making this environmental assessment
available to the public for review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before April
4, 2003.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket
No. 03-021-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state
that your comment refers to Docket No. 03-021-1. If you use e-mail,
address your comment to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your comment must
be contained in the body of your message; do not send attached files.
Please include your name and address in your message and ``Docket No.
03-021-1'' on the subject line.
You may read any comments that we receive on the environmental
assessment in our reading room. The reading room is located in room
1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue
SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to
help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who
have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.
http://http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Tracy A. Horner, Ecologist,
Environmental Services, PPD, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 149,
Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-5213.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is
considering an application from a researcher at the University of
Florida for a permit to release a nonindigenous beetle, Gratiana
boliviana Spaeth (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), into the environment to
reduce the severity of infestations of tropical soda apple, Solanum
viarum Dunal (Solanaceae) in Florida and other infested States in the
continental United States.
Tropical soda apple is a perennial shrub that belongs to the plant
family Solanaceae, section Acanthophora, genus Solanum, and subgenus
Leptostemonum. A plant with foliage unpalatable to livestock, tropical
soda apple can infest a pasture or rangeland in 1 to 2 years, resulting
in lower stocking rates. It is native to Brazil and Argentina but has
become a weed in other areas of South America and in Africa, India,
Nepal, the West Indies, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States.
Tropical soda apple was originally detected in the United States in
Florida in 1988. The pasture land infested in 1992 was estimated to be
approximately 150,000 acres; 10 years later, the infested area had
increased to more than 1 million acres of improved pastures, citrus
groves, sugar cane fields, ditches, vegetable crops, sod farms,
forestlands, and natural areas. Tropical soda apple was placed on the
Federal Noxious Weed List in 1995, and it is listed as one of the most
invasive species in Florida by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council.
In addition to Florida, the plant has been reported in Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. Researchers believe that it has the
potential to expand its range even further in the United States.
Three types of controls are currently being used to limit the
spread of tropical soda apple: chemical, mechanical, and regulatory.
Chemical control involves the use of herbicides. Mechanical control is
attempted by mowing to a three- to four-inch height to prevent the
plants from producing fruit and seeds. Several southern States are
trying to prevent the spread of tropical soda apple by means of
regulatory control, regulating the movement of cattle, hay, sod,
manure, lots of seed, and soil from infested areas to areas free of
infestation. Unfortunately, herbicides and mowing only provide
temporary weed suppression, and in addition to being expensive, they
are not always practical in inaccessible areas. Moreover, herbicides
can have negative environmental effects, which include leaving
undesirable chemical residues in the ecosystem and in commodities and
adversely affecting non-target organisms.
The biological control agent G. boliviana, a nonindigenous tortoise
beetle in the insect family Chrysomelidae, has the potential to reduce
the severity of infestations of tropical soda apple in Florida and
other infested States in the continental United States. Adults and
larvae feed on tropical soda apple leaves, restricting the vigor and
growth rate of the plants and potentially reducing the competitive
advantage this invasive weed has over native vegetation. APHIS has
completed an environmental assessment that considers the effects of,
and alternatives to, the release of G. boliviana into the environment
as a biological control agent for tropical soda apple.
APHIS' review and analysis of the potential environmental impacts
associated with releasing G. boliviana
[[Page 10436]]
into the environment are documented in detail in an environmental
assessment entitled ``Field Release of a Nonindigenous Beetle, Gratiana
boliviana (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), for Biological Control of
Tropical Soda Apple, Solanum viarum (Solanaceae)'' (February 2003). We
are making this environmental assessment available to the public for
review and comment. We will consider all comments that we receive on or
before the date listed under the heading DATES at the beginning of this
notice.
The environmental assessment may be viewed on the Internet at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ by following the link for ``Document/
http://http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ by following the link for ``Document/
Forms Retrieval System,'' then clicking on the triangle beside ``6-
Permits-Environmental Assessments'' and selecting document number 0033.
You may request paper copies of the environmental assessment by calling
or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Please refer to the title of the environmental assessment when
requesting copies. The environmental assessment is also available for
review in our reading room (information on the location and hours of
the reading room is listed under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning
of this notice).
The environmental assessment has been prepared in accordance with:
(1) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the Council on
Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural provisions of
NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA
(7 CFR part 1), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part
372).
Done in Washington, DC this 28th day of February 2003.
Peter Fernandez,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 03-5134 Filed 3-4-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P