GMO corn, soybean get Fed approval on wildlife land

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday it has issued a "Finding of No Significant Impact" for the use of glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybeans for habitat management purposes on National Wildlife Refuge System lands within the Mountain-Prairie Region.

A Finding of No Significant Impact is used when the environmental analysis determine a proposed action to have no significant impacts on the quality of the human environment.

USFWS said the finding is supported by the final environmental assessment which evaluated two alternatives related to the use of glyphosate-tolerant soybeans and corn. Alternative A—the no-action alternative—would continue to allow the use of glyphosate-tolerant soybeans and corn on national wildlife refuges for habitat restoration and management purposes; Alternative B —would disallow use of glyphosate-tolerant soybeans and corn and require the use traditional varieties in refuge farming programs.

Alternative A, the preferred alternative, was selected for implementation because it provides the Service an effective and environmentally-friendly method to convert current and former farm land into native, beneficial habitats for wildlife.

Short-term use of glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybeans directly supports and contributes to long-term habitat restoration goals and objectives for national wildlife refuges in the Mountain-Prairie Region. In 2009, approximately 6,175 acres of national wildlife refuge lands were farmed with glyphosate-tolerant corn or soybeans.