Federal Court Rejects USDA’s Rangeland Pesticide Program, Validating Years of Advocacy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2024
Contact: Sally Paez, (505) 350-0664, sally@nmwild.org
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico Wild is celebrating the recent federal court decision rejecting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) program for aerial insecticide spraying on millions of acres of western rangelands. This ruling, secured by Advocates for the West on behalf of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity, marks a significant victory for watersheds, wildlife, and public lands.
The court found that APHIS violated the law by failing to take a hard look at the program’s impact on sensitive species, such as pollinators and birds, and by focusing solely on reactive pesticide applications, ignoring other pest management techniques. This aligns with New Mexico Wild’s advocacy for sustainable and safe pest management approaches, particularly in sensitive resource areas like the Rio Chama watershed. The court also concluded that APHIS failed to analyze the site-specific impacts of insecticide use, including impacts to non-target species and popular recreation sites, or to consider the cumulative impacts of pesticide or herbicide applications on adjacent or nearby plots of land.
“We congratulate the Xerces Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Advocates for the West for their successful litigation,” said Mark Allison, Executive Director of New Mexico Wild. “This ruling is a win for federal public lands, healthy ecosystems, and watersheds, and validates our collective concerns about APHIS’s aerial spraying program and the need for holistic alternatives to pest management.”
Since 2023, New Mexico Wild has worked alongside partners including Xerces, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Western Watersheds Project to educate the public about APHIS’s grasshopper suppression program and to challenge APHIS’s lack of transparency and insufficient environmental review of proposed spraying in New Mexico. Our efforts generated widespread public opposition and contributed to halting planned spraying in the Rio Chama watershed in both 2023 and 2024.
This court decision emphasizes the need for APHIS to reconsider its ‘spray-first’ approach and to fully evaluate program impacts on pollinators, wildlife, and public health. It underscores the importance of public engagement in decisions affecting our public lands.
New Mexico Wild remains committed to protecting our state’s Wilderness, wildlife, and water. We will continue collaborating with partners to advocate for sustainable land management practices that preserve our invaluable landscapes.
###
