Public Meetings for Environmental Documentation on Herbicidal Eradication

This notice advises the public that the ``Draft Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statements for Cannabis Eradication in the Contiguous United States and Hawaii'' (DSEIS) is available for public review and comment and that public meetings will be held regarding this document. On August 13, 1996, we announced our intent to supplement the programmatic EIS's on eradication of Cannabis on Federal and non- Federal lands and welcomed comments (FR 61 42056). The DSEIS is an update of the latest scientific information regarding the herbicidal alternatives in the original environmental impact statement (EIS) documentation. In 1985 and 1986, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published progammatic EISs for its Cannabis eradication program. The first EIS was prepared for Cannabis eradication on Federal lands in the continental United States, and the second EIS was prepared for the program as it pertained to non-Federal lands, Indian lands, and the State of Hawaii, including Native Hawaiian Homestead lands. The alternatives analyzed in detail in the EIS include the use of manual, mechanical, and herbicidal eradication methods. In the DSEIS, changes to the herbicidal eradication alternatives in the 1985 and 1986 EISs were analyzed. The changes analyzed were (1) the addition of triclopyr as an approved program herbicide; (2) elimination of paraquat as an approved program herbicide; and (3) changes in program delivery, including elimination of broadcast aerial applications of herbicides, use of new technology in aerial directed treatments of herbicides, use of marker dyes, and use of amine formulations of 2,4-D..