EPA Finalizes Novel Herbicide Strategy To Protect Endangered Species

As part of its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its final Herbicide Strategy to address potential impacts of conventional herbicides on threatened and endangered species. EPA traditionally analyzed the impacts for each pesticide species-by-species. Under the Herbicide Strategy, EPA will preemptively apply a suite of listed species protections during initial herbicide registration or registration review.

The Herbicide Strategy applies only to conventional herbicides, not other types of pesticides. To determine which protections would apply, EPA will use a three-step framework:

1. Population-Level Impacts: EPA will consider species location, survival needs, and environmental fate, exposure, and toxicity data to determine whether population-level impacts are not likely, low, medium, or high.