Houston Regional Group - News

The National Forests and Grasslands in Texas (NFGT) has proposed a Non-Native Invasive Species (NNIS) management plan. The Houston Regional Group and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club provided comments on the proposal. Some of the comments included:

1) The obvious intent of the plan is that herbicide use will increase immensely and that use of herbicides will be a first choice priority rather than one tool in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tool box. The Sierra Club is very concerned about this dominant use philosophy.

2) An environmental impact statement (EIS) must be prepared since this proposal is a "major federal action which significantly affects the quality of the human environment". The need for an EIS is reinforced by the potential impacts this proposal will have on Wilderness areas and Wilderness character; proposed, endangered, threatened, and sensitive (PETS) plant and animal species; human health; the ability to recreate and recreate safety in many areas of the NFGT; the potential for spills and unauthorized uses of poisons (herbicides); and ground and surface water quality, aquifer recharge areas, and aquatic habitat contamination.

3) The Wilderness Act requires that areas designated by the U.S. Congress as Wilderness be treated differently with respect to management. In fact the Wilderness Act is based on limiting human manipulation and management (trammeling) as much as possible.

The Sierra Club is very concerned that the FS does not differentiate management of Wilderness Areas in comparison with management with the rest of the NFGT. This is illegal and the FS must address how management of Wilderness is different from the management of other lands in the NFGT and how this will be implemented in the plan.

The Houston Regional Group and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club will monitor this proposal and provide additional comments.

May 2007

Last updated:  03/31/2007.   Content © 1999-2007 by the Sierra Club.