Comment Period: Feral Pig Damage Management | The Wildlife ...

Feral pigs damage vegetation while foraging, rooting, and wallowing. This resulting damage promotes weed invasions, changes dominant vegetation types, and increases erosion. (Credit: USFS)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced in the federal register both a notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and a notice of a public meeting concerning feral pig damage management.?

Now found in at least 35 states as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, feral pigs are a growing concern for agencies tasked with controlling this prolific invasive species. The USDA reports that there are an estimated 5 million feral pigs in the U.S., which cause over $1 billion in damages annually. Feral pigs damage vegetation, increase erosion, promote the spread of invasive plant species, transmit diseases and parasites, and consume row crops, livestock feed, and small animals such as ground nesting birds. To learn more about the threats associated with feral pigs, see the USDA publication ?Feral Swine: Damage and Disease Threats.?

AHPIS has been issuing local environmental assessments for proposed feral pig damage control methods as well as providing technical assistance upon request. Due to the increasing number of requests from local governments and private entities for assistance and the continued expansion of the feral pig population, AHPIS is proposing to implement a nationally coordinated feral pig damage management program in cooperation with states, tribes, and other federal agencies. AHPIS has ?identified several environmental issues associated with a nationally coordinated management plan to be considered in the EIS. They are requesting public comment on potential environmental impacts of feral pig damage management in addition to comments on the scope of alternatives.?

Written comments can be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal or by mail. Comments submitted via mail should be sent to the following address: Project Managers, Feral Swine EIS, USDA APHIS?WS, 732 Lois Drive, Sun Prairie, WI 53590. The written comment period closes on June 12, 2013.

Comments will also be accepted at a public meeting to be held on May 23, 2013 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the USDA Center at Riverdale, Oklahoma City Memorial Conference Center, 4700 River Road, Riverdale, MD 20737. Pre-registration is required. To learn more about the public meeting, get travel and parking information, security information, register, or learn about how to access the webcast, please visit USDA?s public scoping meeting webpage.???

Sources: Feral Swine Impacts on Agriculture and the Environment (Seward et al., 2004), Feral Swine: Damage and Disease Threats (USDA, 2011), Federal Register (May 13, 2013).

Source: http://news.wildlife.org/wpn/comment-period-feral-pig-damage-management/

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