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Invasive Species - What's New on NISIC's Site

See What's New on the NISIC's Web site. Includes items of interest that have been added to our site, in order of most recent post date.

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Recent News

  • CBP Agriculture Specialists Prepare for Valentine’s Day Cut Flower Imports

    • Feb 9, 2024
    • DHS. Customs and Border Protection.

    • U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists throughout the United States are busy inspecting cut flower shipments ahead of Valentine’s Day in order to protect the nation from agricultural and floral pest risks.

    • Post Date
      Feb 13, 2024
  • Balancing Act: Unveiling Public Perspectives on Taming Invasive Aquatic Plants

    • 2023
    • Agricultural & Applied Economics Association. Choices Magazine.

    • Aquatic invasive species threaten U.S. freshwater bodies throughout the country. One of the most prevalent and prevailing of these is hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillate), which spans from Florida all the way up to Maine, and as far west as California. The state of Florida alone spent $125 million from 2008 – 2015 to manage aquatic invasive species, $66 million of which went toward managing hydrilla. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is estimated to spend $15 million annually on managing hydrilla. This submerged weed is primarily managed through cost effective, safe aquatic herbicides and more costly mechanical harvesting. Due to the prevalence of hydrilla, understanding stakeholder perceptions regarding its management is critical to its successful control. 

      This infographic displays Florida’s stakeholder perceptions around aquatic herbicide and mechanical harvesting usage, which can be utilized as a model for other states as well. Data analysis of 3,000 survey responses concluded that a majority of stakeholders are concerned about both the use of aquatic herbicides and mechanical harvesting.

    • Post Date
      Feb 13, 2024
  • Federal Agencies Commit to Continue a Crucial Collaborative Bat Monitoring Program

    • Feb 9, 2024
    • DOI. United States Geological Survey.

    • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey have signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing their joint leadership of the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), a collaborative partnership focused on advancing bat conservation across North America. As co-leads of the NABat program, the two federal agencies will work to ensure the program remains sustainable and meets the needs of partners by providing coordination, technical assistance, data products and analyses that make it easier to apply bat monitoring data more effectively in support of conservation. For more information about the North American Bat Monitoring Program and opportunities to participate, please visit https://www.nabatmonitoring.org.

      NABat was born out of the urgent need to monitor bat populations following the emergence of white-nose syndrome, a disease of hibernating bat species that appeared in New York in 2007 and has since spread across the continent. White-nose syndrome is considered one of the worst wildlife diseases in modern times, resulting in the loss of millions of bats across North America.

    • Post Date
      Feb 12, 2024
  • Invasive Species Advisory Committee - Recently Adopted White Papers

    • 2023
    • National Invasive Species Council.

    • The following White Papers were adopted at the Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC)'s November 2023 meeting:

      • Invasive Species Threaten the Success of Climate Change Adaptation Efforts
      • Underserved Communities and Invasive Species
      • National Priorities of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, 2022-2024
    • Post Date
      Feb 08, 2024
  • USDA APHIS Makes Gains Removing Asian Longhorned Beetle in New York

    • Jan 31, 2024
    • USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), together with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, is announcing that the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) quarantine on Long Island is now smaller. New York is now closer to being ALB-free.

    • Post Date
      Feb 08, 2024
  • High-Impact Invasive Plants Expanding into Mid-Atlantic States

    • Jan 19, 2024
    • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center.

    • With climate change, many invasive plants are projected to shift their ranges, creating hotspots of future invasions across the U.S. Knowing the identities of new invasive plants headed to a nearby state creates an opportunity for proactive prevention and management. Unfortunately, monitoring for and managing all range-shifting invasive plants is untenable. To help prioritize range-shifting species, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center researchers performed impact assessments on 104 plants projected to expand into one or more mid-Atlantic states by 2040 with climate change. Their study was recently published (Oct 6, 2023) in Invasive Plant Science and Management "High-impact invasive plants expanding into mid-Atlantic states: identifying priority range-shifting species for monitoring in light of climate change."

    • Post Date
      Feb 02, 2024
  • Even the Most Promising New Management Tools Struggle to Keep up with Invasive Wild Pigs

    • Feb 2, 2024
    • USDA. FS. Southern Research Station. CompassLive.

    • Whether called wild pigs, feral hogs, or wild boars, these opportunistic and invasive omnivores live in groups called sounders. Removing whole sounders is the most effective management method, but requires follow-up trapping and hunting due to their incredible reproductive potential.

    • Post Date
      Feb 02, 2024
  • Commercial Boat Haulers - Call Before You Haul

    • Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Western Aquatic Invasive Species Resource Center.

    • To prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species, and others are making information available to boat haulers, auctioneers, marinas, manufacturers, and brokers to make it easy to comply with state, provincial and federal laws, prevent costly delays in transporting or selling boats, and help reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species.

      In December 2021, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) initiated a program to prevent delays during the transport of watercraft destined for the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. The program, Call Before You Haul, provides a toll-free number (1-844-311-4873) boat transporters can call prior to transporting watercraft from outside the Pacific Northwest to one of the aforementioned states. The program was piloted in 10 states.

      The Call Before You Haul 1.0 program was initiated in late 2022 prevent the introduction and establishment of quagga and zebra mussels in the Columbia River Basin states and prevent the movement of aquatic invasive species via trailered watercraft. Call Before You Haul 1.0 consisted of creating a 24-7 toll-free number for boat transporters and working directly with state agencies that permit interstate oversize/overweight loads, including watercraft, to raise boat transporter awareness about trailered watercraft as a vector for aquatic invasive species. There remains a significant number of infested watercraft coming from the Great Lakes regions of the United States and Canada to western states.

      Call Before You Haul 2.0 expanding in February 2024, is an effort to work collaboratively with Great Lakes region entities to reduce interstate transport of aquatic invasive species — for the benefit of all states and provinces. 
      See also: Register for kickoff Call Before You Haul 2.0 webinar on February 22, 10-11 am PST.

    • Post Date
      Feb 01, 2024
  • Innovation in Climate Adaptation: Harnessing Innovation for Effective Biodiversity and Ecosystem Adaptation

    • Jan 17, 2024
    • National Wildlife Federation.

    • Climate change poses growing risks to species, ecosystems, and people, and is challenging many of the assumptions that underpin modern conservation practice. As a result, there is an urgent need to not only center climate adaptation in conservation policy and practice, but for adaptation responses to be bolder and more innovative. Innovation in Climate Adaptation is designed to address this need by promoting creativity and innovation in the practice of climate adaptation for biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. This guide is a collaboration among the National Wildlife Federation, the U.S. Geological Survey Climate Adaptation Science Center Network, and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Climate Change Specialist Group.

      Citation: Stein, B. A., J. A. Cushing, S. T. Jackson, M. Cross, W. Foden, L. M. Hallett, S. M. Hagerman, L. J. Hansen, J. J. Hellmann, D. Magness, G. F. Mendoza, C. Newsome, A. Pathak, S. M. Prober, J. H. Reynolds, and E. S. Zavaleta. 2024. Innovation in Climate Adaptation: Harnessing Innovation for Effective Biodiversity and Ecosystem Adaptation. Washington, DC: National Wildlife Federation.

    • Post Date
      Jan 30, 2024
  • A Decision Support Framework for Conservation Introductions

    • Jan 2024
    • DOI. FWS. Pacific Region; Zenodo.

    • The purpose of this nonregulatory decision support framework for conservation introductions is to foster transparent, inclusive, and defensible decision-making by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) when considering conservation introduction as a strategy. This framework was developed by and for the USFWS in the Pacific Region based on input from a wide range of federal, state, territorial, Tribal, Indigenous, and non-governmental representatives in the Pacific Islands and Pacific Northwest. Risk assessment is a central component of the framework, where uncertainty in predicted outcomes of the proposed management strategies is explicitly considered.

    • Post Date
      Jan 26, 2024