The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announce the availability of the Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for the proposed use of herbicides to control invasive phragmites (Phragmites australis) in the western Lake Michigan and Lake Superior basins of Wisconsin.
The Service has determined that the proposed application of herbicide to control phragmites is not a major Federal action that will significantly affect the quality of the human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Accordingly, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.
Phragmites australis is an invasive wetland plant that poses a serious threat to native plant species. Once established in an area the reed is extremely difficult to eradicate. The proposed project will use herbicides, such as imazapyr or glyphosate, to eradicate newly established populations of invasive phragmites. Treatments will occur in late summer or early fall of 2015 for Wisconsin counties found partially within the Lake Michigan Basin and all counties within the Lake Superior Basin. Herbicides will be applied by hand and application will be site specific, not broadcast.
To read project documents, including the Final Environmental Assessment and the FONSI, please contact Bob Wakeman at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Funding for the project came from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. For more information on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s role in the implementation of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, please visit http://www.fws.gov/glri/.
