Powder Keg? Insecticides leading pheasant decline

[Bureaucrat]

I came across this article tonight. I'm not sure what to think of it, but it does make a person wonder.

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-industry-news/2013/03/01/insecticides-killing-grassland-birds.aspx

Also pasted below:

Insecticides Killing Grassland Birds

A study shows that pesticide use in grasslands is the No. 1 contributor to the decline of grassland birds in the United States.

March 1, 2013

Populations of grassland birds in the U.S., such as the horned lark, are in decline due to the agricultural use of pesticides, according to a study in PLOS One.

Populations of grassland birds in the U.S., such as the horned lark, are in decline due to the agricultural use of pesticides, according to a study in PLOS One.

A new study led by a preeminent Canadian toxicologist identifies acutely toxic pesticides as the most likely leading cause of the widespread decline in grassland-bird numbers in the United States, a finding that challenges the widely-held assumption that habitat loss is the primary cause of those population declines.

The scientific assessment, which looked at data over a 23-year period—from 1980 to 2003—was published on Feb. 20, 2013, in PLOS One, an online peer-reviewed scientific journal. The study was conducted by Dr. Pierre Mineau, recently retired from Environment Canada, and Mélanie Whiteside of Health Canada.

The study looked at five potential causes of grassland-bird declines besides lethal pesticide risk: change in cropped pasture, such as hay or alfalfa production; farming intensity or the proportion of agricultural land that is actively cropped; herbicide use; overall insecticide use; and change in permanent pasture and rangeland.

“What this study suggests is that we need to start paying a lot more attention to the use of pesticides if we want to reverse, halt or simply slow the very significant downward trend in grassland-bird populations,” Mineau says. “Our study put the spotlight on acutely toxic insecticides used in our cropland starting after the second world war and persisting to this day—albeit at a lower level. The data suggest that loss of birds in agricultural fields is more than an unfortunate consequence of pest control; it may drive bird populations to local extinction.”

Many grassland-bird species have undergone range contractions or population declines in recent decades. In fact, analyses of North American birds indicate that these birds are declining faster than birds from other biomes. Habitat protection has long been considered a central pillar in efforts to stem the decline of grassland-bird species, such as the vesper sparrow, the ring-necked pheasant and the horned lark.

“We are still concerned about loss of habitat in agriculture, range management and urban development,” said Cynthia Palmer, manager of the Pesticides Program at American Bird Conservancy, a leading U.S. bird-conservation organization. “This study by no means diminishes the importance of habitat fragmentation and degradation. But it suggests that we also need to rein in the use of lethal pesticides in agriculture, and that we need to be especially careful about any new pesticides we introduce into these ecosystems, such as the neonicotinoid insecticides. It reminds us that the poisonings of birds and other wildlife chronicled a half century ago by famed biologist and author Rachel Carson are by no means a thing of the past.”

The researchers focused on the extent to which lethal pesticides, such as organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, are responsible for the decline in grassland-bird populations. The study found that lethal pesticides were nearly four times more likely to be associated with population declines than the next most likely contributor: changes in cropped pasture, an important component of habitat loss associated with agricultural lands.

The publication says that “large quantities of products of very high toxicity to birds have been used for decades despite evidence that poisonings were frequent even when products were applied according to label directions.”

The authors argue that only a small proportion of total cropland needs to be treated with a dangerous pesticide to affect overall bird population trends. The production of alfalfa stands out for its strikingly high chemical load, constituting the third highest lethal risk of any crop based on toxic insecticide use. Pesticide drift from croplands is also affecting birds that favor the adjoining grasslands.

Using data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey for the years 1980 to 2003, the study found that population declines of grassland birds were much more likely in states with high use of toxic insecticides lethal to birds. The species with the greatest number of declines included the eastern meadowlark (declining in 33 states), the grasshopper sparrow (declining in 25 states), the horned lark (declining in 25 states), the ring-necked pheasant (declining in 19 states) and the vesper sparrow (declining in 18 states). The states with the greatest number of declining grassland species were Minnesota (12 species); Wisconsin (11 species); and Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska and New York, all with nine species.

The current study relies on pesticide data from the 1980s and early 1990s, a time when organophosphates, such as diazinon and chlorpyrifos, and carbamates, such as carbofuran and methomyl, were still largely in vogue. Since that time, a new class of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, have soared to the top of global pesticide markets. A major toxicological assessment will soon be released by the American Bird Conservancy showing that birds and other organisms will not fare much better under the new pesticide regime.

[TylerS]

Farmers spraying crops for pests is one thing, but I don't see many spraying CRP or prairie. That's a lot of money!!! They're more apt to hay, graze or burn it.

That story leaves a lot of questions to be answered. Way too many "what ifs." I'd have to read to the report before coming to conclusions based on a supposedly unbiased news story.

[Dotch]

Exactly. Organophosphates and carbamates are old school and largely avoided particularly in grassland and hay ground in this day and age. They tend to be less effective and more toxic to operators than the synthetic pyrethroids that are typically taking their place in forage crop situations. Something the article also failed to point out since they specifically mentioned alfalfa as a culprit is the increasingly intensive harvest management schedule for high relative feed value now versus the good old days. When I was a lad, we felt good about getting 2 - 3 good cuttings of hay. We often wouldn't get started until mid-June some years. Now if you don't get 4 cuttings you're considered a slacker. That means getting started in mid to late May depending on the season. That translates into higher mortality for all bird species that choose to nest there. And, just from my observations this spring, I can't recall ever seeing more horned larks along the roads than I have thus far. That said, I am concerned about the overuse of neonicotinoids that seem to find their way onto as much of the corn and soybean seed that is planted. There are some bodies of evidence linking it to decline in bee populations. Not only that, overuse of any product almost always leads to disastrous effects when it comes to resistance.

[Bureaucrat]

I don't know what to make of it. I don't know enough about this myself to say it's right or wrong. So many things have changed in the 15 years I've been hunting.

I used to be able to hunt pheasants by myself without a dog. Now I don't even see them at all, ever.

Over the same period of time, all the dairy farms have disappeared. Nobody really grows wheat or oats anymore in our area. Good winters, bad winters. Can't really see how it's predators either, because there hasn't been many birds for them to eat for a number of years.

Like I said, I'm not an expert. I just wanted to see what others thought.

[harvey lee]

Pretty hard for pheasants to survive in a black desert like we have in so many areas. No cover and the birds have no chance in a hard winter. Now with the loss of CRP, it will only get worse if that can even happen.

We need cover for birds and it is getting less and less every year. Farm fields are plowed to the county ditch and about to the edge of the ditches. Thenh the ditches get hayed and no nesting cover anywhere.

It's a wonder we have any birds at all.

[Bureaucrat]

To be honest, I think there's more to it than farmers. They're business people like anyone else, and they have to change or go under.

I think it'd be more appropriate to place blame on:

*The decline of profitability of the family dairy

*Sugar tariffs driving demand for corn syrup as a substitute

*The ethanol mandates

*The hidden costs of employing people going up

*Rural brain drain

Farmers will grow whatever the market or congress dictates. Right now it's a pro-plow policy. Bigger, faster, cheaper has it's consequences. Pheasants are unfortunately collateral damage.

If that system overheats and breaks down, the farmers that have the machinery that help with habitat work and leave "a row" may go under.

I feel for the farmers. Even though the prices are up, the inputs are up too. As those margins continue to shrink due to inflation in seed, fuel, land, chemicals, and machinery, the break even will get higher and higher. If prices slip due to a good year or a continuation of the draw down in livestock, things could get ugly for rural America.

[Musky Buck]

Also Harvey in my areas the ditches are getting burned and then made into hay eventually. Right now all the pheasant fatalities I'm seeing are road kill city. This darn ice and snow, the birds are all over the highways right now and shoulders and there are plenty being hit. Need a good melt, the only exposed ground is those shoulders and it's been that way for too many weeks now.

[Tom7227]

Here is the link to the actual paper:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0057457

I have read it and it's tough to understand it totally. It is noteworthy that the data used for the study is from 1990 through about 2003.

I also believe that the paper does not raise the alarm to as high a pitch as the article noted at the start of this thread does.

I don't doubt that the use of pesticides and fungicides can impact wildlife. If nothing else it gives the birds less to eat at crucial times in their lives.

[Tom7227]

Actually the last paragraph of the actual report says it all.

"In conclusion, it would be foolhardy for anyone to argue that habitat loss is of no importance to bird declines. However, we should be careful to consider pest control and specifically the use of highly toxic insecticides as a potential contributor to those declines. Unfortunately, information on pesticide use is often difficult to obtain or considered to be confidential, hampering any serious analysis of its true impact."

[TylerS]

That about sums up my thoughts, too! Once again, the media picks out the juiciest morsels without actually conveying the true thoughts of a study.

Go figure...

[brittman]

Active weed management on CRP acres, especially in the 1st 3 years is often necessary or can even be mandatory.

Thistle, Kochia and other plants if not controlled quickly spread across CRP land or on to adjacent farmed acres. If CRP becomes too weed infested, the USDA may require replanting.

Mowing and burning become less of an option as the CRP acres reach maturity (unless drought allows cutting in a specific county). Thus spraying herbicides for weeds in CRP is more often done than one may realize. Most of us are not running around the country side in May to see this happening.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Brittman hit that nail on the head.

The 20-ish acres of CRP behind my house just became CRP last year. The whole thing had to be mowed and re-planted due to weeds. It was pretty seriously sprayed last fall and will get another dose this spring. Hopefully in a couple years it will be nice and thick but in the meantime there's going to be some chemicals applied.