Purpose and Background of Mitigation Menu
Date of last update: October 16, 2024
Purpose and Background
EPA is using this ecological mitigation menu website to provide more information for pesticide users about runoff/erosion mitigation. You are likely here because a pesticide label requires runoff/erosion mitigation and referenced this website. Check the pesticide label to determine how many mitigation points are required for the crop being treated.
As part of its April 2022 Workplan and its November 2022 Workplan Update, EPA announced various efforts that seek to reduce exposure for nontarget organisms, including those that are federally listed (listed species) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). EPA’s runoff/erosion mitigation menu includes measures described in:
- The FIFRA Interim Ecological Mitigation (FIFRA IEM) (published as part of the Workplan Update on November 16, 2022),
- The Herbicide Strategy (HS) (published on August 20, 2024),
- The Draft Insecticide Strategy (IS) (published on July 25, 2024), and
- The Vulnerable Species Action Plan (VSAP) (published on September 26, 2024).
The Mitigation Points System
EPA has adopted a mitigation point system to convey the level of runoff/erosion mitigation required for a pesticide to address identified ecological risks (e.g. FIFRA IEM, HS, IS, and VSAP). Users can achieve points based on the number and type of runoff/erosion mitigation measures that are adopted for a given treated field. Users also achieve points based on the presence of certain field characteristics/application parameters (e.g., located in low runoff vulnerability county, flat field slope, use of micro-sprinklers, treating only a small portion of the field). EPA determines the number of points required for a pesticide through its FIFRA process on a use site/crop basis—check the pesticide label for the number of points you need to achieve.