Petition seeks end of pesticide use on Alabama refuges

0
18
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Complex [Photo Credit: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Complex via Facebook]

Three conservation groups have announced the filing of a petition asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end toxic agricultural pesticide use on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Alabama.

The joint announcement was made by The Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety and Tennessee Riverkeeper in a Thursday news release.

The groups say private commercial farming of more than 3,000 acres of public refuge lands is allowed on the Wheeler and Key Cave refuges in the complex.

The petition urges the agency to reconsider the previous approval of pesticide use on the refuge complex, or to at least reopen public comment on the practice.

Republished with permission from the Associated Press.