The EPA and USDA signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2024 to better align EPA’s strategies for protecting endangered species from pesticides with NRCS practices. The EPA must meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in its pesticide regulatory decisions, and USDA supports EPA’s efforts by helping to identify activities that comply with legal pesticide regulatory standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to protecting federally threatened and endangered (listed) species from the effects of pesticides. As part of this commitment, EPA developed a workplan with several projects and strategies to meet these goals.

NRCS and EPA have developed a Crosswalk of EPA’s Ecological Mitigation Measures with USDA NRCS
Conservation Practices in Support of EPA’s Endangered Species Strategies (v1.2) that shows how NRCS conservation practices compare with EPA mitigation measures.

NRCS will continue to provide voluntary conservation planning and practice implementation activities, assessing existing conservation plans and practices, and updating conservation plans, as needed, to recommend additional conservation practices. NRCS aims to provide our producers assurance and simplified options for adhering to EPA pesticide application requirements.