Comment from Quinlan, Susan

Western rangelands must be maintained and restored as healthy ecosystems. Our current understanding of ecology and the interconnections in nature clearly show that the path to maintaining these and other ecosystems is to recognize the value of all the naturally occurring organisms that exist in them and select management techniques that support the system. We know from experience that widespread use of pesticides does not support ecosystem health. Though pesticides may be applied for the stated purpose of "controlling" one or a few species, their impacts are always far more widespread than measured. Pesticides adversely affect a diverse variety of non-target insects species, as well as many organisms that rely on insects for food, pollination, or other services. We need to view ourselves as a part of nature, not a part from nature. We humans depend on all the organisms in rangeland ecosystems to maintain all the systems that retain water, recycle nutrients, build soil, ensure pollination of wildflowers and insect-pollinated crops, and provide the food and other resources that sustain both resident and migratory birds, as well as mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that inhabit these lands. Simplistic thinking has allowed past management choices that do not support these living systems. Widespread use of toxic pesticides is a management method that needs to be recognized as a mistaken approach made when we had far less understanding of the ecological systems that sustain life on our planet. We must also recognize that pesticides do not stay where they are sprayed. They are carried by wind and water to distant areas, polluting the air we breathe and the water we drink, with poorly understood, and often completely unknown consequences for human health. We now know that insects are a critical component of nature. As a biologist, I have not only read about the often dire consequences of pesticide over use, I am currently observing the rapid decline of bumblebees and other native bees, other insects, and many species of birds in the natural grassland areas of the west that I regularly visit. This year I have seen very few of many important insects in places where they were once common. In the past, on my own property, I have observed that many birds, including Western Bluebirds, Spotted Towhees, House Wrens, Says Phoebes, Western Meadowlarks and other bird species regularly feed grasshoppers (as well as other insects) to their young. These and many other wild birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians are unquestionably harmed when widespread pesticide use decimates the populations of the organisms they feed on. I strongly believe that we now have the knowledge to select far better ways of using and maintaining the health of our western lands than we had in the past. We must abandon old management habits and methods to learn and continually develop better approaches to live along with nature. Attempting to dominate the land by just killing off any specific native creatures that somehow compete with us or which someone or some interest group has decided is unwanted or problematic is inexcusable today. Alternative methods of range management have already proven effective to reduce insect outbreaks and even increase forage production while maintaining ecosystem services. With further attention to ecosystem health, we can choose to not only maintain western rangelands more wisely, but it also seems possible that we might be able to restore and rejuvenate the health and productivity of historically damaged prairie lands. I challenge this agency to manage these important public lands more wisely than in the past. Rather than relying on out-dated methods known to cause ecological harms, please work hard to choose and further develop management methods based on up-to-date scientific understanding of prairie and shrubland ecosystems and their critically important ecological values to all of us.