Timeline so far
Thursday Oct 19th 2023 FOIA filed asking for pesticide use information in three of the national parks; Yosemite, Sequoia, and Everglades
Start:
I would like to thank whoever is researching this as I know it is sometimes a tough job figuring out what people are asking :-). I am asking for pesticide use information in at least three of the national parks: Sequoia, Yosemite, Everglades. If there is a database for all Parks that would be awesome.
I would like to ask what are the trade names for all pesticides used in each Park for the last five years. If any of the pesticide formulations used are other than a specific trade name then I am asking for the chemical composition specifying the active ingredient and carrier compounds. I am asking for the amounts used for each pesticide item above. I am asking for the acreage and location each of the items is applied to (a map would be great). And finally I am asking for the item cost for each of the pesticide items, I do not need the application cost.
Thank you again.
Bob Lloyd
End:
Thursday Oct 19th 2023 filled out the contact form on Yosemite's website and sent it requesting information on pesticide applications in the park: similar to above; amounts, names, and areas applied.
Also contacted the other parks (Everglades and Sequoia) figuring that with the FOIA, I would start at both ends :-)
October 31st 2023 Received response from YOSE Superintendent, NPS • yose_superintendent@nps.gov
Where they told me...
Hello,
Pesticide use in the National Park Service is documented online through the Pesticide Use Proposal System (PUPS). https://irma.nps.gov/PUPS
Each formulation of pesticide is documented. For example, the active ingredient glyphosate may be found in the trade products Round-up and Rodeo; any use of each product is documented. The percentage of active ingredients are recorded as found on the label; labels are also included in the PUPS. Pesticides mix rates are dependent on the target pest. Carriers, surfactants, and any other additives follow the pesticide label, but are not recorded in PUPS or elsewhere.
Pesticide use is documented annually. This includes, the amount of pesticide applied, the amount of active ingredient applied, the acreage, and species in which the pesticide was applied.
Pesticide cost is dependent on the distributor and changes frequently. The park does not track pesticide cost. Many of the pesticides used can be found at local hardware stores, agricultural supply stores, or pesticide distributers and they would be a better resource to find current costs.
If you would like more information, you can file a Freedom of Information Act request at Freedom of Information Act (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) .
Office of the Superintendent
Yosemite National Park
209-372-0286
https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/national-park-service-announces-cicely-muldoon-as-yosemite-national-park-s-new-superintendent.htm
Sounds great doesn't it?
But nowhere in her departments email did it mention the park was required to have an Integrated Pest Management office or coordinator responsible for all pesticide use and responsible for the _exact_ information I was asking for. My source says that it is federal law that all our national parks are required to have this department. Hmmmmmmm They are awfully hard to reach.
And then when one tries following the link her department sent me it doesn't work. And even the searches one can get it to do are not the PUPS database. And if one reads the rest of her departments response it sounds like a PR release from Monsanto
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Later information found independently (see details below obtained November 1st) revealed that the Park _is_ responsible for having an Integrated Pest Management office or coordinator. The superintendent of this park neglecting to mention that they have a specific office or coordinator specifically responsible for all the details I was asking for seems particularly ... willful?.
In addition the link they supplied doesn't work the best. The link the YOSE Superintendent, NPS • yose_superintendent@nps.gov sent gives an error message with a second small link at the bottom. The second link goes to a IRMA site. Where there is a 'certainly very easy to find' second search link. It is certainly understandable to me why the superintendent wouldn't send a direct link to the search link. I mean if you expect me to search for something why make it easy? And as noted above this is a separate database from the PUPS
https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Search/Quick
But we decided to search anyway.
A IRMA search with the link above for "pesticide" only turns up links to outside projects analyzing chemical residue coming from some minimal sampling in the park. I cannot find any Park pesticide application information. If I search for pesticide _and_ application (either order) I get no results. None?? Seriously 😃 and the IRMA searches supposedly include
Park Science:
"Park Science reports the findings of recent and ongoing natural and social science and related cultural research and their implications for park planning, management, and policy."
_____________________________________________
But Park Science doesn't _ anything about pesticides _applied in the park? Wow that's the most amazing science I have heard in a long long time. I don't believe that chemical sampling at a few locations (locations chosen by whom?) (And what specific chemicals are tested for: chosen by whom?) is valid for my interests. I want to know what they are applying, where, and how much.
So back to their original email...
"Each formulation of pesticide is documented. For example, the active ingredient glyphosate may be found in the trade products Round-up and Rodeo; any use of each product is documented. "
No, they are not.
Search on the public IRMA portal...
For glyphosate: no results found
For Roundup: 1 result.
The Director’s Report; A Message from Director Roger Kennedy: From Here to Where We Want to Be Regional Roundup
.... Regional _Roundup_ 😆
For Round_up or Round-up: no results found
For Rodeo: no results found
For Biocide: no results found
I've already described the pesticide junk.
I want to know what they are applying, where, and how much. I just don't think that is unreasonable. And the director of the national parks just sent me non-information and willfully did not answer my question. And lastly, do you really think that if the park was being open and honest about this data that _all_ the searches above would all have given _no results found_
Nov1,2023
So googling I found something that says each Park has to have an IPM coordinator. And that all pesticide use has to be coordinated with them and that there are very specific forms to use. So there's no question in my mind that they have a database and the superintendent just simply (and certainly accidentally) neglected to send me that information.
PARK IPM PROGRAM & FEDERAL PESTICIDE MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS
Following are requirements of the NPS IPM program and Federal Pesticide Management:
Approval for Pesticide Use
Requests for the use of any pesticides must be submitted annually using the Pest Management Program
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So I googled the text above and came up with tons of links that had wonderful spokes people from the pesticide industry writing public service announcements about how all the pesticides used in our national parks are so important to keeping every single one of us safe from everything else. But I also found a PDF that had an email link for NPS IPM.
cs_envaudits@nps.gov
Sent an email November 6th 2023
https://irma.nps.gov/Portal
https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Search/Quick
Renewed searches on the public IRMA portal...
Tested adding an s to the end of some words and still got the same results. So not really worried about insecticides versus insecticide
Search on the public IRMA portal
For IPM coordinator: no results
For "pesticide" _and_ "application" either order: no results.
For Integrated Pest Management
And integrated pest Managements.
Both gave one result. One!.. from 1914 😆
NPS DataStore
Integrated Resource Management Applications
DataStore-2.10.3.23239-20230926-105412
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Natural Resource Stewardship and Sciencearrowhead
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1
9776
1914
Published Report
Yosemite National Park - Superintendent Annual Report (1914)
National Park Service - Yosemite National Park
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of 1
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
US Department of the Interior FOIA Privacy Policy Disclaimer and Ownership NPS Home USA.gov Accessibility Experience Your America TM
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Several pages down in this Yosemite National Park - Superintendent Annual Report (1914) link ....
Quote:
"INSECT CONTROL.
The work of felling and burning insect infected trees with the object of eradicating injurious
insects and protecting the remaining trees from other attacks has been continued this season
under the direction of Mr. J. J. Sullivan, entomologist, of the Department of Agriculture.
Work has been done in the vicinities of Big Meadows, Little Yosemite, and the valley of
the Illilouette" End Quote:
_____________________________________________
Good for them!
They were working and burning for insect control in 1914. Which wouldn't poison any birds -- even if they used their latest greatest burn technique. On the other hand: later superintendents have probably been spraying the latest greatest insecticides since the 1950s, but in Sequoia and _especially_ in the Everglades _all_ the contaminating chemicals come from _outside_ the parks. 🤔 Who would have thought? Haven't found any links to Yosemite yet. 🤔
Continued searching on the public IRMA portal
For Federal Pesticide Management:
1
2254288
2012
Unpublished Report
Sierra Nevada-Southern Cascades (SNSC) Region Air Contaminants Research and Monitoring Report
Staci L Simonich, Leora Nanus
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of 1
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
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Obviously this report is not about pesticide application.
Continued searching on the public IRMA portal
For "PUPS"
1
87781
1982
Journal Article
The ontogeny of kin recognition in two species of ground squirrels
Warren G Holmes, Paul W Sherman
Ground squirrel babies -- pups. The entire database for Yosemite does not mention their chemical database PUPS even once.
For insecticides: One...
This link is only about pesticide drift from outside the Park...
Summertime transport of current-use pesticides from California's central valley to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, USA
Agricultural activity in California's Central Valley may be an important source of pesticides that are transported in the air to the Sierra Nevada mountain range, USA. Pesticides applied to this intensive crop production area may volatilize under warm temperatures typical of the valley and be transported through the atmosphere to be deposited in the cooler, higher elevation regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains. To determine the extent of summertime atmospheric transport of pesticides to this region, high volume air, dry depositing, and surface water samples were collected in the Central Valley and at different elevations in California's Sequoia National Park. Results revealed that the high...more
LeNoir JS and Others. 1999. Summertime transport of current-use pesticides from California's central valley to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 18(12):2715–2722
https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/etc.5620181210
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Searched on the public IRMA portal
For herbicide: No results found
For application data: 10 or so. None relevant except I enjoyed one which was bragging about an "application" for a cell phone tracking app. So they would have better data for Park sales points. 😆
Seriously National Park "Service" ?
_____________________________________________
This is going to be the start of a permaculture sustainability project to obtain the National Park Service (NPS) Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Database. If you would like to be a part of this project please email or call.
vidaaquatic@gmail.com
http://www.puravidaaquatic.com/
310-429-8477
http://www.puravidaaquatic.com/
http://www.puravidaaquatics.com/
310-429-8477