Board of Pesticides Control Update
Stay up to date with the latest from the Board of Pesticides Control. This update covers everything you need to know about upcoming meetings, new rules, and important reminders to keep you and your community safe. We’re here to keep you informed, and we’d like to hear your thoughts—drop us an email anytime at pesticides@maine.gov.
The next Board meeting is January 15, 2024 it will be hybrid at the Agricultural Trades Show in the Penobscot Room at the Augusta Civic Center, 76 Community Drive, Augusta, ME 04330, and on Microsoft Teams. The meeting starts at 1:00 PM and includes an open forum for growers, applicators and the public starting at 1:30 PM. For more information, visit the Board Meetings Page.
The following programs have been approved for pesticide recertification credits. More recertification opportunities may be found on the BPC Credit Calendar.
January 15, 2025 – Maine Potato Summit
January 14, 15, and 16, 2025 – Maine Agricultural Trades Show
January 22, 2025 – 2025 Grow Maine Green Expo
January 23, 2025 – Pestworld Eastern Conference
The BPC maintains a list of registered products on the front page of its website. For a list of the current Maine registrations.
License Renewal Reminder!
Renewal notices have been emailed to all companies and individuals with SCF, CMA, COA, GPD and/or RPD licenses that are expiring at the end of the calendar year. The notices include links and all other applicable information for completing your license renewal(s). Please ensure licenses are renewed in a timely manner.
*NEW* Pesticide Educational Videos Available
In 2020, BPC received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to contract with a videography company to create pesticide education videos for Mainers. These videos have been completed and uploaded to the BPC website and the DACF YouTube page. They include topics covering introductions to BPC, Integrated Pest Management, Pesticide Registration, Licensing, and Pesticide Rules and Regulations.
 See below for more information about what pesticide credits are available for the three-day show. More information about all of the programs and vendors can be found on the Maine Agricultural Trades Show webpage.
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Pesticide Applicator Training Programs at the ATS
It’s that time of year! The Agricultural Trades Show is being held from January 14-16 at the Augusta Civic Center. There are many meetings approved for pesticide recertification credits this year. These sessions cover a range of important agricultural topics. View the complete list of programs.
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Agricultural Core Training and Exam Signup
Do you need to become certified to apply for an Agricultural Basic Applicator license? Join us for the agricultural core training, followed by the exam, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM on January 15. This event will be held at the UMaine Augusta Campus in Jewett Hall at 46 University Drive in Augusta.
Limited seating is available. Those who register after the limit is reached will be added to a waitlist and notified if space becomes available. Complete the required preregistration.
In late September 2024, the BPC team welcomed a new Manager of Compliance, Allison Smith. Allison comes to the BPC with a background in conducting environmental laboratory analysis of pesticides in soil and water as well as experience providing compliance assistance related to OSHA consultation and health sampling. In the last few months, she has been getting up to speed in her new role by accompanying inspectors via ride along, observing CORE training and Commercial Applicator Master’s exams, reviewing case history and working closely with BPC Director Alex Peacock in preparing materials for Board meetings.
For this month’s update, Allison would like to remind the regulated applicator community about the importance and key practices of good record keeping. Records are the primary way for an applicator to demonstrate compliance with state and federal regulations. You can think of your logs, spreadsheets, labels and other recordkeeping items as your personal line of defense if your work or business practices related to pesticides are ever called into question. Additional copies of logbooks can be purchased through The University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Key items for commercial applicator recording and reporting include:
- Recording:
- General info: Town and location/address of treatment, date and time of treatment, weather conditions during treatment (including wind speed/direction, temperature and sky conditions), size of the treated area, volume of the product used, site and or crop treated, and what pest was being targeted
- Applicator info: applicator name, license number, and spray contracting firm number if applicable
- Application info: Brand name of product, EPA registration number, active ingredient(s), restricted entry interval, application rate, and any applicable calibration data
- Reporting info:
- Annual summary reports can be submitted through the BPC online software for each calendar year by January 31st of the following year.
- These reports should include: site or crop treated, name of product used, EPA registration number, quantity of product used, and size of the total treated area
For more detailed information on record keeping rules please refer to Chapter 50: Record Keeping & Reporting Requirements (.docx)
Released on December 10, 2024
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing protection for one of the nation’s most beloved species - the monarch butterfly - and is encouraging the public to be part of its recovery. The Service is seeking public input on a proposal to list the species as threatened with species-specific protections and flexibilities to encourage conservation under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Public comments will be accepted on the proposal until March 12, 2025. The Service will then evaluate the comments and any additional information on the species and determine whether to list the monarch butterfly.
“The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle. Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams. “Science shows that the monarch needs that chance, and this proposed listing invites and builds on unprecedented public participation in shaping monarch conservation efforts. Providing monarchs with enough milkweed and nectar plants, even in small areas, can help put them on the road to recovery. Working together, we can help make this extraordinary species a legacy for our children and generations to come.”
For more than 50 years, the ESA has been an effective catalyst for on-the-ground collaborative conservation, promoting the recovery of wildlife and conserving the habitats upon which they depend. This proposed rule will help build on and enhance monarch conservation efforts while balancing activities in support of economic growth.
With its notable orange and black markings, the monarch butterfly is one of the most recognizable insects in the world. In North America, monarchs are grouped into two long-distance migratory populations. The eastern migratory population is the largest and overwinters in the mountains of central Mexico. The western migratory population primarily overwinters in coastal California. In the 1980s, over 4.5 million western monarchs flocked to overwintering grounds in coastal California. In the mid-1990s, an estimated 380 million eastern monarchs made the long-distance journey to overwintering grounds in Mexico, completing one of the longest insect migrations in the world.
Today, the eastern migratory population is estimated to have declined by approximately 80%. The western migratory population has declined by more than 95% since the 1980s, putting the western populations at greater than 99% chance of extinction by 2080. During this same period, the probability of extinction for eastern monarchs ranges from 56 to 74%, according to the Service’s most recent species status assessment.
Threats to monarchs include loss and degradation of breeding, migratory and overwintering habitat; exposure to insecticides; and the effects of climate change . Although many people have already helped conserve the butterfly, additional habitat and protections are needed to ensure the species is conserved for future generations.
To assist with monarch conservation efforts, the Service is also proposing critical habitat for the species at a portion of its overwintering sites in coastal California. Overwintering habitat provides an essential resting place for monarchs during the cold winter months and helps them prepare for breeding in the early spring. In total, the Service is proposing 4,395 acres of critical habitat for the western migratory monarch population across Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties in California. A critical habitat designation imposes no requirements on state or private land unless the action involves federal funding, permits or approvals.
The Service collaborates closely with Tribes, federal and state agencies, academic institutions and non-government organizations to carry out conservation efforts for the monarch butterfly. Many partners across the monarch’s range are involved in surveys, monitoring and habitat improvements. Much of this work takes place on private lands with the support of local landowners.
The proposal to list the monarch butterfly, and designate critical habitat, will publish in the Federal Register on December 12, 2024. A 90-day comment period will open on December 12, 2024, and will close on March 12, 2025. Information about how to submit comments can be found on regulations.gov by searching for docket number FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137. This docket also includes information about how to attend two virtual public information meetings, and associated public hearings, about this listing proposal.
Everyone can play a role in saving the monarch butterfly. Because of the species’ general habitat use and wide distribution, all sectors of society have an opportunity to participate in a broad range of conservation efforts throughout the butterfly’s range. Learn more about the monarch listing proposal, and how to help conserve monarch butterflies.
Released on December 3, 2024
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing updated mitigation measures for the pesticide atrazine. This proposal contains mitigation measures to reduce exposure to non-target species and minimize impacts to federally endangered and threatened (listed) species and their designated critical habitats. The updated mitigation proposal also incorporates the revised level at which atrazine is expected to adversely affect aquatic plant communities, an expanded use of robust surface water monitoring data, as well as the runoff mitigation menu and point system from the Final Herbicide Strategy.
EPA developed the mitigation menu to provide growers with the flexibility to use mitigations that are most appropriate for their field situations. The mitigation menu was recently updated to include additional options to achieve mitigation points and reduce runoff. This updated mitigation proposal for atrazine also includes EPA’s response to public comments received on its 2022 proposal.
Background
Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. It is used to control annual broadleaf and grass weeds in a variety of agricultural crops, primarily corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. Atrazine products are also registered for numerous other uses including macadamia nuts, guava, fallow crop lands, and turfgrass.
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) requires EPA to review each registered pesticide at least every 15 years to ensure that each pesticide can carry out its intended function(s) without creating unreasonable adverse effects to human health and the environment and to ensure that risk assessments and pesticide decisions reflect the best available science. If potential risks are identified as unreasonable, then EPA determines if additional mitigation measures can be implemented to reduce those risks.
As part of the atrazine ecological risk assessment, a concentration-equivalent level of concern or CE-LOC is established, which is the concentration of atrazine in water that is expected to adversely affect aquatic plant communities. In the 2016 atrazine ecological risk assessment, EPA determined that the scientifically derived CE-LOC was 3.4 µg/L, measured as a 60-day average. However, in September 2020, a less protective level for determining the need for mitigation at 15 µg/L was set that was based on a policy decision rather than a scientific one and raised questions about scientific integrity. Following subsequent litigation and partial remand of its 2020 Atrazine Interim Registration Review Decision, in 2022, EPA released a proposal for updated mitigation to address atrazine runoff and mitigate risks to aquatic plant communities, which was based on the CE-LOC of 3.4 µg/L. Since that time, the agency convened a meeting of the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) to evaluate studies that were used to calculate the atrazine CE-LOC. Following the SAP, EPA reevaluated two additional relevant studies based on public comments and letters to the agency, which resulted in recalculating the CE-LOC for atrazine as 9.7 µg/L.
Since the release of the 2022 atrazine mitigation proposal, EPA also finalized its Herbicide Strategy to protect federally endangered and threatened (listed) species from potential impacts of herbicides. The final strategy was released in August 2024 and was applied during the development of the updated mitigation proposal for atrazine. The final strategy reflects many improvements, additional ways to comply and other increases in flexibility that were made by EPA based on the extensive comments from stakeholders and the public.
Updated Atrazine Mitigation Proposal
EPA’s approach is targeted to provide maximum flexibility (recognizing atrazine’s high benefits) while addressing the need for mitigation. EPA has identified watersheds that exceed the revised CE-LOC of 9.7 µg/L through analysis of modeling data in combination with available water monitoring data. Under the updated proposal, EPA determined that a field located in a watershed with a predicted atrazine concentration above the CE-LOC of 9.7 ug/L but below 45.4 µg/L would need to achieve three points of mitigation. For a field located in a watershed with a predicted concentration at or above 45.4 µg/L, EPA identified six points of mitigation to be necessary. The specific mitigation measures that may be used to achieve the required points are described in the Herbicide Strategy’s mitigation menu. Using the mitigation menu and point system also reduces the level of mitigation needed for applicators who have already implemented measures to reduce pesticide runoff from a field such as conservation tillage or grass waterways. Growers who already use those measures may not need any additional runoff measures.
In addition to the mitigation points, EPA is proposing several nationwide runoff reduction measures identified as necessary for all atrazine labels, including prohibiting application during rain or when soils are saturated or above field capacity, and annual application rate reductions.
Upon publication in the Federal Register, the Updated Mitigation Proposal for the Atrazine Interim Registration Review Decision, along with all atrazine registration review documents, will be available in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2013-0266 at www.regulations.gov for public comment for 60 days. EPA will continue to keep the public updated as it evaluates and takes any actions related to atrazine pesticide use. For more information, view a prepublication version of the Federal Register notice, the mitigation proposal and atrazine water concentration maps.
Released on November 22, 2024
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing the final biological evaluation (BE), and associated response to comments, for 11 rodenticide active ingredients. The mitigation measures described in this final BE will also serve as the agency’s Rodenticide Strategy as outlined in EPA’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) Workplan.
Each year, rodents cause significant damage to property, crops, and food supplies across the United States. They may also spread diseases, posing a serious risk to public health. Rodenticides are used in residential, agricultural, and non-agricultural settings to control a variety of pests including house mice, Norway rats, roof rats, moles, voles, pocket gophers, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, feral hogs, and mongooses.
The 11 rodenticides evaluated in the BE are: chlorophacinone; diphacinone and its sodium salt; warfarin and its sodium salt; brodifacoum; bromadiolone; difenacoum; difethialone; bromethalin; cholecalciferol; strychnine; and zinc phosphide. These rodenticides are intended to control target animals using different biochemical mechanisms (e.g., neurotoxicity, reduced blood clotting). They also have different properties that affect the types of species that may be impacted. For example, some rodenticides may remain in target animals long enough such that predator or scavenger animals that consume the target animals may be affected. The assessment accounts for these different properties across the 11 rodenticides evaluated in the BE.
EPA’s final BE finds that the currently labeled uses of the 11 rodenticides evaluated in this assessment remained the same as those in the draft BE, and:
- Will have no effect on 88% of species and 95% percent of critical habitats;
- Are not likely to adversely affect 4-11% of species and 1% of critical habitats;
- Are likely to adversely affect 1-8% of listed species and 4% of critical habitats; and,
- Have a likelihood of future Jeopardy/Adverse Modification (J/AM) of less than 5% of listed species and less than 1% of critical habitats.
The final BE describes several scenarios intended to illustrate how EPA may implement mitigations from the Rodenticide Strategy as each rodenticide goes through registration review and for new active ingredient registrations. It provides additional clarity regarding the applicability of each mitigation measure to each rodenticide product and use, and how EPA anticipates implementing these measures.
The final Rodenticide Strategy does not itself impose any requirements or restrictions on pesticide use. Any mitigation measures needed to address potential likelihood of future J/AM for listed species will only apply in geographically specific areas where listed species with J/AM predictions are located, using EPA’s Bulletins Live! Two system, as part of label language, or in the Terms and Conditions of registration. Not all of these measures will be necessary for all uses or products containing these pesticide ingredients. Rather, they are measures from which EPA expects to choose when reducing exposure to listed species and their critical habitats, as necessary, for a specific active ingredient, use site, and application method (i.e., bait station, in-burrow, and broadcast).
During formal consultation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will use EPA’s effects determinations to inform their biological opinion(s). If FWS determines in its final biological opinion that additional or different mitigation measures are necessary to address any J/AM determinations or to address any incidental take beyond those mitigation measures, then EPA will work to ensure that any necessary registration or labeling changes are made.
The final BE is available in the docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0567 on www.regulations.gov.
Background
In 2020, EPA released a draft human health and ecological risk assessment followed by a public comment period to support EPA’s registration review of these 11 rodenticides. Based on that assessment, EPA identified measures to reduce ecological exposures, which included several pilot listed species.
In December 2023, EPA released a draft BE for these 11 rodenticides that provided draft effects determinations for all registered uses. The draft BE included predictions of whether there is a potential likelihood that the rodenticides could lead to a future J/AM finding by the FWS for listed species and designated habitats. In addition, the draft BE identified possible mitigation measures to avoid predicted J/AM and minimize take of listed species.
The final rodenticide BE released today includes revisions after incorporating public comments on the draft BE. Highlights from the revisions include refinements of EPA’s predictions of potential likelihood of future adverse modification of critical habitat based on the use pattern and type of rodenticide, clarification of how different use types were combined for effects determinations, and including effects determinations for the most recently listed species. The final BE also includes examples of how EPA envisions implementing mitigations. While EPA included carcass search, scouting for carcasses that have signs of rodenticide exposure, in the draft as a mitigation measure to reduce exposures based on its inclusion in FWS’ previous biological opinion on other rodenticides (i.e., Rozol and Kaput), numerous commenters expressed concerns about its applicability and feasibility for many/most of the rodenticides and uses subject to this strategy. As a result, EPA is now specifying it expects to only select the carcass search measure when other mitigation measures are not practical or feasible. EPA has included an example of the limited types of scenarios in which EPA would expect to implement this measure in the final Rodenticide Strategy.
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