A federal judge in Oregon confirmed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) legal duty to consider preventative measures—rather than a “spray first, ask questions later” approach—in its program allowing insecticide spraying to kill native grasshoppers and crickets on millions of acres in 17 western states. The Court’s rulings also require APHIS to be […]
We’re joined by Sharon Selvaggio, Pesticide Program Specialist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Sally Paez, Staff Attorney at New Mexico Wild; Roger Rosentreter, retired Bureau of Land Management biologist; and Hannah Goldblatt, Staff Attorney at Advocates for the West. The panel discusses our successes limiting spraying on public lands, protecting sensitive and imperiled […]
Advocates for the West and our partners at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity won a significant victory against the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) over its program allowing pesticide spraying on millions of acres in 17 western states to kill native grasshoppers and crickets. U.S. District […]
The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) program allowing pesticide spraying on millions of acres in 17 western states threatens pollinators and other insects, which contribute services valued at more than $70 billion per year to the U.S. economy, according to a recent study. Greater sage-grouse, monarch butterflies, western bumblebees, and other species […]
Representing the Xerces Society and Center for Biological Diversity, Advocates for the West filed a notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretive Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for failing to properly consider harms to endangered species caused by insecticide spraying across millions of acres of western grasslands. APHIS oversees […]