<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><b> Herp digest sent this along. If you are interested or concerned with stopping non-native invasives BEFORE they reach the shores, then this should interest you.</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><b>john in austin</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><b><br></b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><b>Proposal Seeks to Improve the Listing Process for Injurious Species, Says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Press Release 7/1/13--A quick response to preventing harmful species from entering the United States and crossing state lines is the intent behind today’s proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to refine the environmental review process when listing species as injurious wildlife.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">The Service is proposing an exemption known as a “categorical exclusion” </span>that would generally preclude the need for preparing an environmental</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the </span>action of listing species as “injurious.” Injurious species can spread</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">quickly across the U.S. landscape, potentially harming native wildlife and </span>their habitats as well as human activities. For example, the injurious</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">zebra mussel, a tiny but prolific invertebrate from Eurasia, can clog water </span>intake cooling pipes, shutting down some electric power plants in the</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">United States.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Under federal law (the Lacey Act), the Service can “prescribe by regulation </span>those wild mammals, wild birds, fish, mollusks, crustaceans, amphibians and</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">reptiles, and the offspring or eggs of any of the aforementioned, that are </span>injurious to human beings, or to the interests of agriculture,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">horticulture, or forestry, or to the wildlife or wildlife resources of the </span>United States.” A species designated as injurious would then be prohibited</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">from being imported into the United States or transported across state </span>lines. Currently, the listing process can take several years because it</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">includes many steps, in particular a review under NEPA that includes a </span>rather lengthy environmental assessment. During this time, a species that</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">could have been stopped entering the United States or a crossing a state </span>line could become irreversibly invasive.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">All the environmental assessments the Service has prepared to date have </span>concluded that the action of listing the species as injurious would have no</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">significant effect on the human and natural environment. This is because </span>the listing action helps keep species out of the United States that are not</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">naturally found here or helps prevent the spread of injurious wildlife into </span>new areas within the country where they are not naturally found, thus</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">having no effect on the environment.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">In a notice appearing in today’s *Federal Register*, the Service proposes a </span>process that would generally require an abbreviated review for the</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">regulatory action that places a species on a federal list of injurious </span>species. This categorical exclusion, if finalized, will help streamline the</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">process intended to keep out injurious species or to prevent their spread </span>across state lines.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">The *Federal Register* notice opens a 30-day public comment period ending </span>on July 31, 2013. The notice can be found at</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(10, 33, 153); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 0px; "><a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-07-01/pdf/2013-15707.pdf">http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-07-01/pdf/2013-15707.pdf</a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "> . You can </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">find more information on this categorical exclusion at</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(10, 33, 153); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 0px; "><a href="http://www.fws.gov/injuriouswildlife/catex">http://www.fws.gov/injuriouswildlife/catex</a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "> .</span></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 11px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Contact: Susan Jewell-</span>703/358-2416-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(10, 33, 153); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Susan_jewell@fws.gov">Susan_jewell@fws.gov</a></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Laury Parramore-</span>703/358-2541-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(10, 33, 153); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Laury_parramore@fws.gov">Laury_parramore@fws.gov</a></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">____________________________________________________________</span></div></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><br></span></div></body></html>