FIFRA/ESA Assessments and Beyond: How FESTF's Data ... · • NMFS’s OP Biological Opinion used “R-plots” to summarize data used to evaluate the likelihood of exposure for species

FIFRA/ESA Assessments and Beyond: How FESTF's Data Management Tool, Gopher, Answers Questions and Provides Options

Ashlea Frank1, Bernalyn McGaughey1, Tilghman Hall2, Dan Campbell3

1Compliance Services International, 2Bayer CropScience, 3Syngenta Crop Protection

SETAC North American 39th Annual Meeting

Sacramento, CA

November 4-8, 2018

FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force1

FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force

Evaluating Potential Risk /Jeopardy • NMFS’s OP Biological Opinion used “R-plots” to summarize data used to evaluate the likelihood of exposure for species and critical habitat

2

Example R-plot from NMFS’s BO


Gopher as a Tool

• Gopher can be used to compile, apply, and evaluate components that feed into the likelihood of exposure evaluation for pesticides and risk/jeopardy determination in a well-documented and transparent manner

3


Building Components: Status and Life History

4

SOS from NMFS BO is available as a referenceStatus of the Species available in Gopher


Evaluating Components: Temporality and Duration• Gopher houses the information needed to evaluate

5

– seasonality of species presence in relation to application timing

– duration of species occupancy in aquatic systems


Additional Life History Components in Gopher Inform Evaluation

6

Data from EPA’s ESKB and other attributes can be queried by agency users for model inputs

Data from EPA’s ESKB and other attributes can be queried by agency users to better inform likelihood of exposure


Building Components: Range

7

Sockeye salmon – Ozette Lake ESU Range


Building Components: Aquatic Bins

8


Building Components: Uses and Overlaps• Through ‘scenarios’ users can build label-specific use footprints, and select species location data sources

9


Evaluating Components: Uses and Overlap

10


Evaluating Components: Uses and Overlap (2)

• Users can build customized footprints, accounting for labeled crops, geographic restrictions, and other label specifications

• Customization is as easy as checking boxes

• Leads to an action area and percent overlap with species ranges that are more accurate and realistic than what was used in the BEs and BOs

11

The crop group “Other Row Crops” consists of data from the Cropland Data Layer, aggregated 2010-2015 (USDA NASS CDL, 2010-2015) for the 5 crops identified by EPA in the BE: CDL Crop Value 6 (Sunflower), 10 (Peanuts), 11 (Tobacco), 41 (Sugarbeets), and 56 (Hops). Hops is the only crop in this crop group labeled for malathion. Acreage value is based on pixel count and is based on aggregated total.


Evaluating Components: Proximity• Co-occurrence and proximities are generated from user-selected species, use sites, and locations

12


BMP enrollment areas

Gopher Future Enhancements

13

Additional datasets can be integrated, including pesticide usage, BMPs, conservation, soils, and state-level data to provide an understanding of environmental baseline and to explore conservation options

USGS Soils Maps

USDA Conservation Reserve Program

USGS Pesticide Usage


Gopher - Takeaway• Gopher can inform and facilitate preparation of USEPA’s endangered species pesticide assessments and to USFWS/NMFS consultations by bringing efficiency and transparency in a stable and documented system

• Allows analysis at various levels of resolution and considers multiple lines of evidence using best available data– National-level scoping– State and regional examination– Local and species-specific analysis

• The flexibility of Gopher allows for further applications such as capturing voluntary measures as a mechanism to better inform the interface of pesticide use and endangered species data

14

Thank you for this opportunity and please contact me with any

questions!

7501 Bridgeport Way West – Lakewood, WA 98499 253-473-9007

[email protected]


Ashlea FrankPrincipal Consultant, Compliance Services InternationalTechnical Consultant, FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force

15

Documents

FIFRA/ESA Assessments and Beyond: How FESTF's Data ... · • NMFS’s OP Biological Opinion used “R-plots” to summarize data used to evaluate the likelihood of exposure for species