FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PREDATOR DAMAGE MANAGEMENT IN NEVADA Prepared by: United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services In Cooperation with: United States Department of Agriculture United States Forest Service United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management and United States Fish and Wildlife Service In Consultation with: Nevada Department of Wildlife Nevada Department of Agriculture July 2020 Executive Summary Introduction Wildlife is a valuable natural resource, long valued by the American public for aesthetic, recreational, emotional, psychological, and economic reasons. Native wildlife in overabundance, or individual animals that have learned to use resources of value to humans, can lead to conflicts. Wildlife can destroy crops and vulnerable livestock, damage property and natural resources, and pose serious risks to human and pet health and safety. Wildlife Services (APHIS-WS), a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), has a mission to provide federal professional leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to help create a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist. APHIS-WS in Nevada (WS-Nevada) responds to requests from the public, government agencies, tribes, private enterprise, and other entities for assistance with managing damage and threats from wildlife. This EA focuses on those species commonly referred to as predators since they prey upon other animals for some portion of time. For this EA, the following species are included as predators even though they may be statutorily defined into several types of mammals: coyote, common raven, badger, mountain lion, striped skunk, raccoon, bobcat, red fox, free-ranging/feral dogs, kit fox, black bear, free-ranging/feral cats, gray fox, spotted skunk, mink, weasels, ring-tailed cat (Section 1.3). WS-Nevada applies and recommends an integrated wildlife damage management approach (IWDM), which incorporates biological, economic, environmental, legal, and other information sources into its decision-making process. WS-Nevada’s current IWDM activities include many methods for managing wildlife damage including education, advice and implementation of non-lethal and lethal options. Proposed Action and Scope WS-Nevada is proposing to use all appropriate PDM methods to resolve damage caused by predator species included in this EA, across those land-classes in Nevada detailed in Section 1.9.4, including wilderness areas (WAs) and wilderness study areas (WSAs), for the protection of livestock, property, human and pet health and safety, and natural resources. Currently, WS-Nevada does not conduct PDM in WAs or WSAs, but implements PDM, when requested by the land owner/manager across other portions of Nevada. Nearly 32% of all of WS-Nevada responses to damage or threats occurs on private lands (Section 1.9.4.A.). IPDM activities are proposed on all land classes, including federal, tribal, state, county, municipal and private properties in rural, suburban, and urban areas with the exception of National Parks, USFWS lands, and Inyo National Forest. WS-Nevada performs IPDM only when requested by those in need of wildlife damage management assistance; it does not initiate activities on its own accord. WS-Nevada coordinates, plans, and cooperates with other agencies who have jurisdiction over lands, other resources or human safety, including Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) and the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) and federal land and resource management agencies. All WS-Nevada actions are conducted in accordance with applicable federal, state, tribal, and local laws. Operational assistance is only provided after work plans, agreements and other appropriate documents are in place with WS-Nevada’s cooperators and partner agencies. Final Environmental Assessment: Predator Damage Management in Nevada The proposed action involves WS-Nevada continuing to recommend or use appropriate methods, either singly or in combination, to resolve damage caused by predator species. These methods include cultural practices such as shed lambing, herding, and guard animals; habitat management; animal and behavior modification such as exclusion, chemical repellents, and hazing with pyrotechnics; and lethal operational actions such as trapping and shooting (Appendix A). National Environmental Policy Act WS-Nevada has prepared this environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (Public Law 9-190, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1500 et seq.) and USDA APHIS NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR 372). This EA describes the need for IPDM, the potential environmental issues associated with providing IPDM, and five alternative ways and levels of providing IPDM services to those that request assistance. The EA then evaluates the environmental consequences in a comparative analysis for each environmental issue and alternative. WS-Nevada has evaluated many of the environmental issues in this EA in greater detail than the expected effects warranted because the issues have been commonly raised by the public during similar APHIS-WS NEPA processes. WS-Nevada coordinated the preparation of this EA by cooperating and consulting with its partner agencies, including Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). IPDM Objectives WS-Nevada has established several objectives for IPDM to aid in meeting its mission to provide federal professional leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts. • Respond in a timely and appropriate way to all requests for assistance. • Responses, whether over the phone, remotely, or in the field, follow a formal decision process to evaluate, formulate, and implement or recommend the most effective strategy. • The recommended strategy for each response intends to effectively reduce or eliminate damage and risks caused by the offending animal(s) to resolve conflicts with humans and their valued resources, health, and safety. • These strategies may be both short-term and/or long-term and are often a combination of lethal and/or non-lethal methodologies to ensure effectiveness. Needs for WS-Nevada’s IPDM Actions (Section 1.11) IPDM assistance is requested of WS-Nevada when predators cause damage to or threaten livestock, other agricultural resources, property, human/pet health and safety, and natural resources, including other wildlife species. Need for IPDM to Protect Livestock (Section 1.11.2) • Predators prey on a wide variety of livestock, including cattle, sheep, goats, swine, horses and poultry. Some problems are more seasonal, such as during lambing and calving when livestock are most vulnerable. 3 Final Environmental Assessment: Predator Damage Management in Nevada • Livestock predation is not evenly distributed so some producers will suffer no damage while others experience serious losses. • Most producers have attempted non-lethal predation management strategies by the time they request assistance from WS-Nevada. • Coyotes are responsible for the majority of livestock losses, followed by cougars, black bears, and other predators. Need for Protecting the Public and Pets from Predators (Section 1.11.4) Some predators have adapted to using human-altered habitats where they find abundant food, water and shelter inadvertently provided by humans. • Through habituation, some individual animals lose their fear of humans and behave aggressively. While attacks on people are very rare, they appear to be increasing. • The majority of requests for assistance in this category are from coyote conflicts with pets. • Disease transmission risks from predators include rabies (risk to humans, and pets), distemper (risk to pets), parvovirus (risk to dogs), leptospirosis (risk to humans and pets), raccoon and skunk roundworm (risks to humans and pets), and several other pathogens. • Predator conflicts at airports can also threaten air traffic safety, for example when a plane strikes an animal during takeoff or landing. Need for Natural Resources Protection (Section 1.11.5) Under some circumstances, predators can cause additive constraints on the ability of some sensitive or vulnerable wildlife species to reproduce and have healthy populations. When identified by NDOW as necessary, it may request that WS-Nevada assist with IPDM to protect species under their jurisdiction, such as mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, and bighorn sheep. In the past, the USFWS may also requested assistance in supporting populations of federally listed species. Need for Assistance with Disease Surveillance (Section 1.11.6) WS-Nevada is often requested to collect blood, tissue, or fecal samples for NDA, NDOW, the APHIS-WS National Wildlife Disease Surveillance and Emergency Response Program, and other concerned agencies and citizens. WS-Nevada can efficiently collect samples from animals around the state because it can do so in conjunction with its other routine operations so that no additional animals need to be captured or killed. The information reported by WS-Nevada can be used by other agencies and programs in disease mitigation and response decisions. Alternatives Evaluated in Detail (Section 2.2) The following alternatives are evaluated in detail in this WS-Nevada IPDM EA and are described below. 4 Final Environmental