BLM, USDA butting heads over spraying in the Rio Chama

To better protect wilderness, contractors with the US Department of Agriculture's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service or APHIS shot 65 unvaccinated invasive cattle in 2022 from helicopters on the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico. 

But, it's hardly an easy alliance between preservationists and an agency like APHIS that killed 1.75 million creatures in 2021 including 400,000 native species like wolves, cougars, bears and bobcats.

Federal and private landowners have requested 22,500 acres — roughly 35 square miles — be treated to thwart the insects that consume grasses essential for grazing cattle. One difference is that this year the planes would spray diflubenzuron, which kills insects in the juvenile stage, rather than carbaryl, a potent neurotoxin that’s “broad spectrum” or indiscriminate in the species it can harm, including fish and birds that could eat the poisoned insects. BLM’s Taos field office has not requested spraying this year and is doubtful it will because of the low grasshopper population reported so far, spokeswoman Allison Sandoval wrote in an email. BLM officials also don’t believe the USDA’s assessment satisfies the National Environmental Policy Act or is sufficient public outreach, she wrote. [Federal officials again consider Rio Chama pesticide spraying]

Carbaryl (1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) is a white crystalline solid commonly sold under the brand name Sevin®, a trademark of the Bayer Group. It kills beneficial insects like honeybees as well as crustaceans not to mention its havoc wreaked on fungal communities and amphibians. Sevin® is often produced using methyl isocyanate the chemical that Union Carbide used to kill thousands of people in Bhopal, India in 1984.

Grant County has tabled its contract with APHIS because of blowback from welfare ranchers and despite a state law banning their use the agency still deploys M44 cyanide bombs that often kill domestic pets.