Federal Laws

Provides information on federally and state regulated plants. Refer to the link to the Excel spreadsheet of information compiled by industry for regulated noxious aquatic weeds (combined federal and state list). Please note that state regulations change frequently and may not reflect the most current information.

APHIS regulates the following list of pests under the authority of the Plant Protection Act. It does not include any 'regulated non-quarantine pests' (pests which are present and may be widely distributed in the U.S.
See also: Animal and Plant Diseases and Pests of Concern for related information

The APHIS Federal Noxious Weed Program is designed to prevent the introduction into the United States of nonindigenous invasive plants.
See also: Noxious Weeds Program Homepage for more information.

A Federal Order is a legal document issued in response to an emergency when the Administrator of APHIS considers it necessary to take regulatory action to protect agriculture or prevent the entry and establishment into the United States of a pest or disease. Federal Orders are effective immediately and contain the specific regulatory requirements.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a historic, federal government-wide investment that furthers NOAA’s efforts to build a Climate-Ready Nation. It provides $3.3 billion for NOAA to build on its commitment to help Americans – including tribes and vulnerable populations – prepare, adapt, and build resilience to weather and climate events; improve supercomputing capacity and research on weather, oceans, and climate; strengthen NOAA’s hurricane hunter aircraft and fleet; and replace aging NOAA facilities.

Within NOAA's IRA funding, $575 million was put towards standing up the NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge. The funds are available as competitive grants.

Includes species listed as injurious wildlife under the Federal Lacey Act (18 USC 42), which makes it illegal to import injurious wildlife into the U.S. or transport between the listed jurisdictions in the shipment clause (the continental U.S., the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any possession of the U.S.) without a permit. An injurious wildlife listing would not prohibit intrastate transport or possession of that species within a State where those activities are not prohibited by the State. Preventing the introduction of new harmful species is the only way to fully avoid impacts of injurious species on local, regional, and national economies and infrastructure, and on the natural resources of the U.S.

Injurious wildlife are wild mammals, wild birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, mollusks and their offspring or eggs that are injurious to the interests of human beings, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, wildlife or wildlife resources of the U.S. Plants and organisms other than those stated above cannot be listed as injurious wildlife. For more information, see What Are Injurious Wildlife: A Summary of the Injurious Provisions of the Lacey Act and Summary of Species Currently Listed as Injurious Wildlife.

Delivering results from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. $480 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has been announced and is headed to states, Tribes, territories and local governments. This is represented in over 60,000 projects that have been awarded funding. These projects range from repaving roads and water system upgrades funded through formula grants to states to competitive funding for massive bridge and transit projects.
See related resource: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Overview for projects related to invasive species management

The 2008 Farm Bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008), effective May 22, 2008, amended the Lacey Act and extended its protections to a broad range of plants and plant products, making it unlawful to import into the United States any plant or plant product that was illegally harvested. It also makes it unlawful to import certain products without a declaration.

APHIS, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administer the Lacey Act. APHIS is responsible for collecting declarations for imported plants and plant products, and defining the scope of plant materials that require a declaration; see Do I Need a Lacey Act Declaration? 

APHIS established through rulemaking a schedule for implementing the declaration requirement. Phases 1, 2, and 3 went into effect in 2009; phase 4 in 2010; phase 5 in 2015; and phase 6 went in 2021. Lacey Act Phase VII Declaration Implementation will go into effect on December 1, 2024. 

Plants for planting can carry a wide variety of pests that are more likely to become established in the U.S. because they are already on a suitable host. In some cases, the plants themselves are the pest. To ensure U.S. import regulations provide adequate protection against the risk posed by plants for planting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) established a regulated category called "Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis" (NAPPRA). NAPPRA allows APHIS to more fully protect U.S. agriculture from foreign pests while minimizing adverse economic and trade impacts. Under NAPPRA, plants for planting must undergo a pest risk analysis before APHIS will authorize the taxon for importation.

Before NAPPRA, APHIS' plants for planting regulations (also known as Q37) categorized imported plants as either prohibited (not allowed) or restricted (allowed under certain conditions). The regulations did not require a pest risk analysis prior to the importation of a new taxonomic group of plants. This differed from APHIS' fruits and vegetables regulations (Q56) where the importation of regulated articles is prohibited until APHIS completes a pest risk analysis.

Using appropriations to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58, also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in collaboration with other U.S. Department of the Interior bureaus, is providing grants to support implementation of measures that prevent the introduction or spread of invasive species. Proposals are requested that advance strategic, ecologically-based, landscape-level prevention measures. Landscape-level approaches are those that bring together multiple geographies, sectors, and stakeholders to protect and conserve natural resources on a larger scale.

Total funding available is $1,852,550. The USFWS anticipates funding one to four projects, ranging between $200,000 and $1,852,550. Proposals were due June 22, 2022. The anticipated award date was August 2022. Grant Opportunity - F22AS00320.

See related resource: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Overview for funding for the Departments of Agriculture (USDA), the Interior (DOI), and Commerce (DOC) that are directly or indirectly tied to invasive species management.

Laws and regulations at the state (Michigan) and federal level are designed to stop the introduction and spread of invasive species.