In FY 1999, WS received $1,286 million in 

 cooperative funding ($1 million from DoD and 

 the remainder from Interior) for BTS work on 

 Guam. Additionally, DoD provided $408,000 

 for research to develop effective methods for 

 BTS control. WS expended $47,097 more of 

 federally appropriated funds in support of the 

 BTS program in Guam. 



Measurable benefits resulting from direct 

 management and methods development by 

 WS include 



• An established islandwide line of defense 

 on Guam; 



• Snake reduction in high-risk areas, 

 achieved through increased public and 

 media understanding of the problem and 

 support for management strategies. (This 

 outreach initiative includes two BTS training 

 videos, an information poster, and wallet- 

 sized cards); 



• Identification and implementation of a 

 chemical toxicant and registration of a new 

 cargo fumigant; and 



• Identification and evaluation of potential 

 attractants to replace live mice in opera- 

 tional trapping. 



In addition to the BTS work in Guam, WS 

 provides training and snake-control supplies 

 to emergency snake-control teams in Hawaii 

 and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

 Mariana Islands and, on request, provides 

 personnel to monitor DoD training sites on 

 Saipan and Tinian during DoD exercises. In 

 cooperation with the State of Hawaii and DoD, 

 WS is the lead agency for investigating 

 reported BTS sightings in the State. 



WS also conducted work in a number of States 

 to reduce damage caused by other nonnative 

 species including nutria, feral pigeons, feral 

 swine, starlings, and English sparrows. In 



Helping Small Farms 



Maryland, WS is involved in a large-scale, 

 multiagency project to manage nutria damage 

 to coastal marshes (see section on Protecting 

 Other Natural Resources). 



WS has a long history of supporting rural 

 Americans by providing assistance to 

 thousands of the Nation's small farm and 

 property owners. Today's active WS program 

 lends strong support to USDA's commitment 

 to help small farm interests. Small farms, 

 many struggling economically, depend on the 

 vital services WS provides to help protect their 

 livelihood. By providing assistance through 

 cooperative agreements, WS helps minimize 

 the negative impacts that wildlife cause on 

 agriculture, property, and natural resources. 



Small farms, as defined by the National 

 Commission on Small Farms, are described as 

 farms generating less than $250,000 in gross 

 annual receipts. Based on this information 



and on data provided by NASS, APHIS 

 determined that farms with $250,000 or more 

 in gross annual receipts are generally at least 

 1,100 acres in size. WS used these data to 

 estimate that, in the Western States, 74 percent 

 of WS FY 1999 cooperative agreements were 

 undertaken with entities meeting the definition 

 of small farms. In the Eastern States, WS 

 activities are more varied, and agreements with 

 agricultural producers make up a smaller 

 proportion of the work accomplished there 

 than in the West. NASS data show it is 

 unlikely that the mean average farm size in any 

 Eastern State is greater than 1 ,100 acres. 

 Therefore, most, if not all, of WS agreements 

 with farmers and ranchers in the East are likely 

 to be with small farms and ranches. 



CO 



