Our Rodenticide Task Force has been busy!
Lots of people -1864 of them - signed our petition calling on the City to reduce the rodenticide budget by 20% this year and use that money for pilot studies of other methods of prevention and deterrence. The budget does indeed contain funds for a pilot study of carbon dioxide, so yay us!
Communications and Outreach Committee:
Contraceptive Pilots are happening! Myriam, Paula and Anne are working with Ward 43 Alderman Timmy Knudsen to firm up plans for a contraceptive pilot in his ward. A fundraising campaign by the CBA and hopefully also by the LP Conservancy for that pilot may start soon after. Also Cherie reports that she is working on a pilot with the City of Evanston.
Tessa has been working on some new graphics (like the one below) - please share them when you see them on your social media.
Research Committee:
The EPA has released their rodenticide regulations, which sadly don’t protect the animals that are dying in our area. The research committee prepared this explanation:
“It looks like the review found only a small percentage of contexts in which rodenticides were considered likely to negatively affect federally listed endangered and threatened species (“listed” species) and/or habitats officially considered critical for listed species (critical habitats). The full report outlines the mitigation measures that the EPA will choose from depending on the context (e.g. species, habitat type, rodenticide type, distribution method) but they will only be used in specific places where rodenticides are considered likely to harm listed species or critical habitats.
Briefly, the 11 mitigation measures are
1. Make bait stations better able to exclude non-target species
2. Prohibit scattering rodenticides on the ground or in burrows where non-target species might consume the bait
3. Prohibit scattering rodenticides on the ground or in burrows where non-target species might have secondary exposure (eat a poisoned animal).
4. Where there are listed mammals that could enter a bait station, restrict bait stations to only within 5 feet of buildings
5. Prohibit putting rodenticides in water (does not apply to situations where people are trying to eradicate rats from islands)
6. After applying rodenticides, search for carcasses, collect them, and dispose of them to prevent secondary poisoning
7. Remove spilled bait or bait that has been kicked out of the burrow
8. Prohibit use in areas or times of year when listed predators are in the area
9. For target species that live in closed burrow systems (e.g. pocket gophers), cover the burrow hole after putting the bait down the burrow. This would not apply to brown rats because they have open burrows
10. Adding a clause that the EPA will notify registered users if additional measures would be necessary, and registrants agree to update their labels or cancel their registration
11. Require the applicator to report dead or dying non-target animals
It also looks like changes to label information and classifying rodenticides as restricted use will be addressed in another document.
This doesn’t really change anything for species that are not listed or considered a critical habitat. This is unfortunate for all of the species that aren’t listed.”
Outreach to Public Officials Committee: working on getting a meeting with the state, which regulates pesticide use in larger buildings in the city.
Have you seen our policy and the research it’s based on? Thanks Andy and Thea for cleaning it up for publication, and the whole research team for developing it.