Department of Agriculture March 27, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the extension with revision of a currently approved information collection associated with Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation certification requirements. This information is collected in support of the conservation provisions of Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990, the Federal Agriculture, Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, and the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (the Statute).

We are proposing to make several changes to the exotic Newcastle disease domestic quarantine regulations, including adding an option for the movement of pet birds; adding restrictions on the interstate movement of live ratites out of quarantined areas; harmonizing the domestic and foreign regulations regarding the movement of dressed carcasses of dead birds and dead poultry, including one change to the importation regulations; providing for the use of alternative procedures for treating manure and litter and for composting; and adding an additional surveillance period after the conditions for removing quarantine are met before quarantine is removed. We have concluded that these proposed changes are necessary based on our experiences during the eradication programs for the 2002- 2003 outbreaks of exotic Newcastle disease in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. In the event of an exotic Newcastle disease outbreak, these changes would help to ensure that exotic Newcastle disease does not spread from quarantined areas and that exotic Newcastle disease is eradicated within quarantined areas.