▶ 2026 Endangered Species Act Pesticide Labeling Requirements

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Perfect.

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So hi everyone.

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As Laura said, my name is Alyssa Foss.

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I work with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.

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Today we are going to take 1/2 hour to discuss the new changes occurring with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act.

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So we’ll talk about why these changes are occurring and how EPA is rewriting pesticide product labels.

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So this is meant to be an informative talk making you aware of what to watch for as you apply pesticide products.

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Let’s see here, try and get to the next slide.

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OK, sorry about that.

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There we go.

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OK, so let’s start with why we are seeing these changes occurring.

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With every pesticide registration, the EPA is required to create a risk assessment with the United States Fish and Wildlife Services for endangered species, which is stated as a requirement by the Endangered Species Act.

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The risk assessment requirement has largely been ignored due to the lack of resources amongst the agencies and the significant amount of time it takes to complete the risk assessment.

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So the EPA is already delayed on improving pesticides as well as their reregistration, which has to occur every 15 years.

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That the risk assessments were already started but rarely completed prior to a registration decision.

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So EPA was sued by several environmental organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, and the courts have ordered EPA to now abide by their obligations to the Endangered Species Act and re evaluate every registered active ingredient and make label changes accordingly.

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So there are more than 13,000 registered pesticide products and over 1600 species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

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And for every registration, EPA is required to complete the risk assessment for every species listed.

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So EPA has started to comply with this court order and is re registering pesticide product labels with new Endangered Species Act language.

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So today we’ll cover what that language looks like and how it applies to the products you would be using.

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So with this new language on product labels, we are seeing a little bit of consistency.

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There are three new sections emerging on the pesticide product labels that are spray drift mitigation, runoff and erosion mitigation, as well as geographic specific restrictions.

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So the first section we’ll discuss is spray drift mitigation.

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So this refers to implementing downwind buffers on field edges.

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The requirement of a downwind buffer is to protect an area that may be harboring an endangered species.

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We are seeing that the buffer requirement has a very large range on the labels, anywhere from 0 to 100 feet.

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The buffer distance is determined by the active ingredients profile and the likelihood of drift occurring.

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So when calculating what can be included in the buffer needed on the downwind field edge, you have to look at what surrounds the field and the buffer has to either be taken out of the field of application or there are managed areas that can be used outside of the field edge to be the buffer, such as other agricultural fields, roads, CRP lands and mode areas.

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So here’s an example of the Spray drift mitigation language section on the labels.

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It’ll highlight, depending on the type of application, what the buffer distance should be and below it discusses in more detail what can be used in the buffer calculation.

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So agricultural fields are the field itself or neighboring fields that would not be considered planted to sensitive crops.

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And usually the label will list on the product what a sensitive crop would be for that product.

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So if sensitive crops are downwind at the time of application, it is a do not spray and you would have to wait until the wind direction is pointed away from that sensitive crop.

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Otherwise, roads include paved or gravel surfaces, mowed grassy areas adjacent to the fields, and areas of bare ground from recent plowing or grading that are continuous with the treated area.

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Buildings and their perimeters, silos or other man made structures with walls and a roof and areas maintained are a mitigation measure for runoff, erosion or drift control such as vegetative filter strips, field borders, hedgerows, Conservation Reserve Program lands and other mitigation measures identified by the EPA on this new mitigation menu website that I’ll talk about a little bit later.

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Manage wetlands, including constructed wetlands on the farm and on farm contained irrigation water resources that are not connected to adjacent water bodies, including on-farm irrigation canals and ditches, water conveyances, managed irrigation runoff retention basins, and tailwater collection ponds.

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And I realize that’s a long list, but it is on the product label so don’t feel like you need to remember it.

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It is something you can refer back to.

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So there are options to reduce your downwind buffer that will be listed on the label and this is to reduce the size of the buffer before the inclusion of calculating any managed area into the buffer.

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So on this example we see the following options.

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Reduce the buffer distance of a ground application to 0.

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So that would be using an oil emulsion drift reducing agent that constitutes 2 1/2% of the volume of the finished spray tank mix.

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Application is made using an over the top hooded sprayer, as a layby application, or is made below the crop canopy using drop nozzles and use of a row metal hooded sprayer if a windbreaker shelter between the application site and non managed area is present.

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So OK, the next section we’ll look at is runoff erosion mitigation.

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This is a very new concept we are seeing on labels and it may require the establishment of new practices in order to use a particular pesticide product.

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So on the labels, there will be an established point value that the application has to achieve to reduce risk of runoff and erosion.

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So generally the point value on the labels is anywhere from 0 to 9 mitigation points.

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Right now we’re really seeing 0 to 3.

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So far we have not yet seen anything in like the 6 to 9 range.

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And EPA has a list of over 30 ways to achieve the points requirement.

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Many of these options are already implemented without even having to change your current farming practices in order to achieve the points.

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So here’s an example from a label of that new runoff and erosion language we are seeing.

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It almost always has a clear do not apply in the rain and do not apply when the soil in the area to be treated is saturated.

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So also pay attention to the bit that states avoid making an application when rainfall is expected before the product has sufficient time to dry, which would be a minimum of 4 hours.

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Then this area finally states that you must achieve a minimum of 3 runoff erosion mitigation points for the crop uses listed.

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So what does that look like?

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So the EPA, as part of drafting this endeavor, went through every county across the United States and assigned a points value to each county based on its pesticide runoff, vulnerability and field characteristics.

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So just by farming in Wisconsin, each county has already been given either 2 or 3 points.

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So when the label lists 3 points and you farm in Adams County, there is no change needed to your current farming practices in order to meet this new runoff and mitigation requirements.

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However, if you are in Dane County, you would need to do something additional to achieve that 1 more mitigation point.

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However, there is a large list that you may already be doing these practices currently.

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So here’s a few of the options applicable to Wisconsin row crops.

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99% of the row crop fields will start off generally with more than 4 points just based on known current practices as shown in the table on the slide.

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These are taken from the EPA mitigation menu and has many more options with point values as well.

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This is not all inclusive that I have right here.

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So it’s important to learn and understand how to calculate the point system now, so that if products are introduced with 6 or 9 points, we understand how to implement any possible additional practices.

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OK.

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So this is the final section we’ll talk about today pesticide use limitation areas.

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So the intent of this is so any additional product restrictions for a particular geographic area do not have to be printed on the label and can easily be updated as information comes available.

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So this is a website to list the product restrictions by geographic area and this is called Bulletins Live Two.

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This is also another EPA website.

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So this site actually is not new.

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EPA has been using this on particular active ingredients and products for over a decade now.

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So in Wisconsin, we have had it used in the cranberry industry for methoxyphenazoid to protect the Kerner blue butterfly.

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So this is an example.

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The EPA is starting to require that applicators review the Bulletins Live! Two site no more than six months in advance for every product to be used on a field and to check for any geographic restrictions.

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So on the slide, you’re gonna see this part of a label being added where it’s calling out endangered and threatened species directly and pointing straight to the Bulletins Live! Two website.

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So this is what Bulletins Live! Two.

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Looks like the pink is what is designated in a pesticide use limitation area.

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And this is for Wisconsin.

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So in the state we have 2,738,495 acres that are highlighted already in a pesticide use limitation area.

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Thankfully, although that acreage sounds rather high, it is for four active ingredients in the state.

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So the active ingredients that currently have a pesticide use limitation area in Wisconsin are methoxyfenozide, cyantraniliprol, isocycloserum and dicamba labeled for post application on soybeans.

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So applicators should plan on checking the bulletins in April of each year is what we would recommend, which will cover them for six months through the growing season into October.

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So the site will let you know by product and time of application if there is an applicable bulletin.

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So essentially what you need to do in order to navigate this site, is you kind of want to highlight by zooming in or zooming out the general area your fields are located in, or you can type it in on the location search.

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And then what you’re going to do is hit the application month and if you know the product, you can search it by either the product name or the EPA registration number, which is found on the label.

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And then although it’s not included on this screenshot, you just hit search and what that’ll pop up is either a statement saying there are no PULAs for that product in your area, or it will bring up a PDF of what an additional mitigation measure or label restriction might be.

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And we would strongly suggest regardless of your result, printing that off and putting a date on it to prove that you checked this site as part of your record keeping.

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So DATCP is actively monitoring the evolution of this changing language on labels.

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We have created a great website that pretty much is a one stop shop of all the Endangered Species Act resources we know are available out there.

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So right off the bat, we already have listed that mitigation menu website I talked about as well as a map of the counties that I showed.

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We also have a direct link to the Bulletins Live! Two website and just more in depth information in in case you are curious of what is out there.

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So I highly encourage you to favorite this page on your browser so it is easily accessible.

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OK, So what can be done in the immediate future?

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So definitely start to familiarize yourself with the Endangered Species Act concepts that we discussed here.

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I know this is a very quick presentation and a very high level overview, but I hope it gives you enough information to kind of get started.

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Essentially, we are really just easing into this new label language.

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So for 2026, we’re not necessarily seeing a lot of these changes being implemented so fast.

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And if they are, a lot of our current farming practices already meet the points requirement, which essentially means no change would be needed.

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But I definitely encourage you to review intended products you plan to apply this season and check for any updated Endangered Species Act language.

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So this is definitely we’re going to start to see in like the next few years of new practices and just ways of checking that we’re definitely going to need to do before going out and applying pesticide products.

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So become familiar with the EPA’s mitigation menu website as well as that Bulletins Live! Two. Know how to navigate them and what to look for on the sites.

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I will say they are especially Bulletins Live! Two is rather clunky to maneuver and I really hope that they they get it more smooth sailing just knowing that the amount of influx to be using this website is going to be occurring.

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And like I said, we have this all listed on the DATCP website.

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So definitely use that as a resource and we will be updating that frequently as we find new information and what’s changing with this new ESA language that EPA has to comply with.

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OK.

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So thank you for your time today and I’m happy to answer any questions right now.