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Urban legends about the origins of canal grass in Panama abound, but the Smithsonian has new evidence that puts the question to rest. Canal grass is an invasive weed, native to Asia. Because its tiny seeds blow in the wind, it readily invades clearings and spreads to form impenetrable stands by budding from tillers and rhizomes. Once established, canal grass is challenging to eliminate.

This searchable directory includes contact information and self-identified areas of individual expertise for NatureServe, NatureServe Canada, and our Network Programs in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. More than 80 NatureServe Network Programs collect and analyze data about the plants, animals, and ecologi­cal communities of the Western Hemisphere. They are the leading source of information on the precise locations and conditions of at-risk species and threatened ecosystems in their jurisdictions. NatureServe collects, curates, and distributes that information for use at regional, national, and international scales. Staff throughout the Network are experts in their fields, and include some of the most knowledgeable field biologists and conservation planners in their regions.

When the expansion of the Panama Canal is completed in 2016, giant ships that now must dock at West Coast ports after crossing the Pacific will be able to deliver cargo directly to ports on the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast. One thing they may be delivering, according to a recent study, is a much larger number of alien species.

The Screwworm Eradication Program Records, housed in Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), documents one of the greatest success stories in the history of American agriculture. Led by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the eradication of the screwworm from the United States, Mexico, and most of Central America marked a major victory over the destruction of domestic and wild animals by an insect which feeds only on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals.

The Screwworm Eradication Program Records document research and eradication efforts from the 1930s through 2000. These materials include correspondence, plans, reports, scientific papers and manuscripts, publications, raw research data and research analyses, livestock producer information materials and reports, cooperative agreements, photographs, maps and artifacts.