New video series from Weed Science Society of America provides Endangered Species Act herbicide label guidelines

New Endangered Species Act (ESA) label requirements continue this year as herbicides gradually make their way through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration and re-registration approval process. To help farmers and weed-control professionals navigate these new requirements, the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) and its member scientists have collaborated with affiliate organizations to develop a variety of tools and resources, including their assistance with a new, four-part Adapting to ESA Video Series.

The fourfold video series features Stanley Culpepper, Ph.D., University of Georgia Extension Weed Scientist, and WSSA’s past president and current ESA committee member, sharing ways to stay in compliance with new ESA requirements. The video series was developed by CropLife America, in partnership with the Agricultural Retailers Association and the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology.

“These videos provide excellent, step-by-step guidelines to understand what you need to do to follow the new ESA label requirements and to optimize protections for endangered species,” says Bill Chism, Ph.D., a retired EPA official and WSSA’s current Endangered Species Act committee chair. “In total, they are a great resource to learn about the new requirements and how to implement mitigation efforts to comply with them.”

The series covers the following topics:

1. Mitigation Overview
2. Bulletins Live! Two
3. Runoff, and
4. Spray Drift

All four videos can be accessed here.

The videos include general information about the ESA mitigations and new requirements to check the EPA Bulletins Live! Two website to determine if a planned field application with a specific herbicide is located within a Pesticide Use Limitation Area, or PULA, and if so, what mitigations are required within the PULA. “The series also highlights new label requirements to help reduce spray drift, and a new requirement to check if your fields qualify for additional mitigations to avoid runoff or erosion, and if so, how many mitigations are required,” adds Chism. “Mitigation options include vegetative filter strips, cover cropping, and no-till practices, among others.”

Established in 2022, WSSA’s ESA Committee provides research data to regulators to help develop effective, science-based, and practical protection strategies. To learn more about WSSA and its resources related to ESA, visit: https://wssa.net/endangered-species/. Additional information on herbicide use related to ESA requirements, including a running list of affected herbicides, can be found on a new Take Action website from the Soy Checkoff and GROW (Getting Rid of Weeds) Network: https://growiwm.org/take-action-esa/.