Several National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS) members framed possible solutions to a variety of problems created by invasive species and pathogens, including the spread of invasives from climate change, zoonotic diseases associated with animal trade, gaps in federal policy, and more.

NCSE has compiled the results from this and other breakout sessions.  To view the full policy recommendations from the breakout session titled “Biosecurity in a Changing Climate–How the United States Must Adapt to New Threats of Human and Animal Pathogens and Invasive Species,” click the link below.

FINAL_Recommendations_NCSE_Breakout_Session_19_Biosecurity_in_a_Changing_Climate_v3

Click on the link below to read the full comments on plant species like Giant Reed (Arundo donax),  Napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum), Camelina sativa, and Energy Cane.

NECIS comments EPA

The new Policy provides a framework and guidance under which each National Forest and Grassland can work with partners to:

(1)   design management practices to reduce or mitigate the risk that invasives might be introduced to the unit through various pathways and vectors;

(2)   ensure that forest management practices are adjusted to minimize the risk that actions might facilitate invasion;

(3)   ensure that activities of contractors & permittees are so conducted as to prevent and control invasive species introduction, establishment, and spread; and

(4)   enhance and expand efforts to eradicate or control invasive species that have already been introduced to the unit.

The letter addressed to Chief Tidwell can be viewed by clicking the link. USFS Final Thank You

New Studies and Policy Solutions to Invasive Species Threats

• NAPPRA, Q-37 and Invasive Plants
• Separating the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins
• Invasive Species + Climate Change = ?

When:  Thursday, March 1, 11:30am to 1:00pm

Where:  Defenders of Wildlife, 1st floor conf. room,1130 17th Ave NW,Washington, between L and M streets (Farragut North Metro).  Tel: 202.682.89400

Lunch: BYO (shops and take-outs nearby, such as City Deli and Potbelly’s further south on 17th)

Why:  Key new studies and regulations have come out in recent months onU.S. invasive species crises — and how to resolve them.  Experienced policy advocates from NECIS and other speakers will present on those studies and discuss how to move national policy forward on key issues.

Moderator:  Bentley Johnson, National Wildlife Federation

Each session will be 20 minutes – 15 for presentation and 5 for Q&A and discussion.

****Session 1.  Preventing the Introduction of New Invasive Plants

After years of review, USDA has recently strengthened their tools for screening plant imports. How can NAPPRA and Q-37 be implemented to best protect theU.S.from future invasive plant introductions? Those working across the country on invasive plant management can play a key role in making the new tools function effectively.

Speaker: Doug Johnson is executive director of the nonprofit California Invasive Plant Council. He serves on the executive committee for the National Association of Exotic Pest Plant Councils, was the first chair of California’s state-appointed Invasive Species Advisory Committee, and is NAEPPC’s representative to NECIS.

****Session 2: Separating the Connections between the Great Lakes and Mississippi Basins

A significant priority for the Great Lakes region is preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species between the Great Lakes andMississippiRiver basins through possible separation between the two watersheds. This issue has attracted national attention in recent years due to concerns about Asian carp entering theGreat Lakesvia the Chicago Area Waterway System. Learn about new recommendations on how to separate the two mighty basins just released by the Great Lakes Commission and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

Speaker:  Katherine Glassner-Shwayder is senior project manager at the Great Lakes Commission where she manages projects on aquatic invasive species and serves as coordinator for the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species. Kathe also participates on the national Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, representing Great Lakes interests.

****Session 3:  Invasives + Climate Change=?   What You Need to Know. 

Invasive species and climate change are both daunting challenges in their own right.  Those working on invasive species will need to know to how climate change could entirely change conventional understanding of invasive species.

Speaker:  Doug Inkley from the National Wildlife Federation.  He is NWF’s Senior Scientist, working on the issue of safeguarding wildlife from climate change.  His work includes implementing on the ground climate smart conservation, and exploring the nexus between climate change and invasive species.

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The National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (www.necis.net ) is an NGO network dedicated to strengthening our nation’s prevention and management policies. 

Thanks to National Invasive Species Awareness Week for featuring this event. See www.nisaw.org for more information.

WASHINGTON (January 17, 2012)—Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a final rule that will list four species of huge, non-native constrictor snakes as “injurious species” under the federal law that gives the FWS the power to prohibit their importation to the United States and their use in interstate commerce.

In 2010, the FWS proposed rule included the listing of nine species of huge constrictor snakes. The final FWS rule drops five of these species and lists a total of four non-native constrictor snakes as injurious species. The four species that will be listed as injurious are the Burmese python, yellow anaconda, northern African rock python, and southern African rock python. The five snakes that were dropped from the list finalized by FWS are the reticulated python, boa constrictor, DeSchauensee’s anaconda, green anaconda, and Beni anaconda.

“While we are pleased that four extremely harmful constrictor species will no longer be allowed into this country, we are disappointed that five of the proposed snakes were not included in the rule,” said Peter Jenkins, spokesperson for the National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS). “The snakes that were excluded pose a serious threat to our already fragile ecosystems and to humans. If your boat is leaking, why would you only plug some of the holes?”

“Of the nine species originally proposed three are already found outside of captivity and breeding in the wild in Florida. Of those three, only two were listed,” said Kristina Serbesoff-King who directs The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Invasive Species Program. “Four of the five that were dropped from the final list have not yet become established in U.S. ecosystems, and that’s the very reason they should be restricted. We believe this is an important iterative step, but also strongly encourage the FWS to develop regulations aimed at preventing the import of harmful species, rather than trying to close the proverbial barn door after these species have already taken hold within our lands and waters and are virtually impossible to eradicate.”

This rulemaking process initially began in 2006 at the request of the South Florida Water Management District, and, after a lengthy process of agency action and a public comment period, the resulting rule had been awaiting release by the Office of Management and Budget since March 2011. The Administration was approached by numerous members of Congress from all over the country, both Republicans and Democrats, as well as almost the entire south Florida congressional delegation to encourage the release of the rule.

“A small but vocal sector of the pet industry concerned with importing and breeding these dangerous exotic snakes seems to have put a stranglehold on a sensible rule,” said Dr. Bruce Stein of the National Wildlife Federation. “Unfortunately, when it came to weighing the economic interests of these few breeders against the enormous economic and ecological damage these snakes can cause, the Administration was sold a bottle of snake oil.”

For years the federal government has come under sharp criticism for allowing invasive animal species into the country that have caused major damages to the environment and agriculture, leading to economic costs and environmental and safety risks. Recent invasions by imported animal species such as the constrictor snakes, Asian carp, and red lionfish are together costing federal, state, and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars annually in efforts to control them. These costs could have been avoided if authorities had considered their risks beforehand and restricted their importation.

“This listing is one step toward limiting the massive flow of harmful species into this country, but the current listing approach doesn’t even come close to keeping up with the 21st century trade of live animals,” said Jenkins. “We are urging Congress and the Administration to advance broader regulatory reforms of the injurious species listing process.”

As a leading import market, the United States receives hundreds of millions of non-native animals each year, which represent thousands of different wildlife species. In practice, very few risk assessments are done before these animals arrive in the country, and the111-year-old law that gives the FWS regulatory authority to prohibit importation has only 25 entries on the injurious species list. These species were typically restricted only after years of importation, and damage had already occurred. In contrast, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel require all new animal species to be assessed for the likelihood of invasion before they are allowed into those countries.

“For several years, Congress has considered bills that would modernize our antiquated and broken regulatory system, but the legislation has stalled,” said Jennifer Nalbone, director of Navigation and Invasive Species for Great Lakes United. “Right now, the next damaging invader could be on its way here. All species being proposed for trade into the United States must be screened to weed out the next Burmese python or Asian carp.”

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Contact: Cindy Yeast, 720-542-9455
202-236-5413 (c) cdyeast@earthlink.net

The National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species is a partnership of 17 major conservation and environmental organizations that provides a united expert and scientific voice on invasive species policy. www.necis.net

The South Florida Water Management District discovered the python while trying to eradicate exotic lygodium plants, another non-native species that does harm to Florida ecosystems.

Burmese pythons, imported from Southeast Asia as pets and then illegally released in the wild, are reproducing and thriving in the Everglades and other south Florida wetlands.  Estimated at 30,000 in number, the snake is considered both a threat to the restoration of the Everglades and to human safety, with the state working to control and eradicate the population.

The United States can save money by stopping the introduction of non-native animal species that pose a high risk to the economy, the environment, and human and wildlife health through modernizing the injurious wild animal import program.

To learn more about the impacts of non-native species, especially as those impacts relate to our economy, check out the link below for a fact sheet that NECIS put together.

Factsheet_necis_economics_final

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (October 4, 2011) – The National Wildlife Federation today released a report documenting new and massive ecosystem breakdowns in the Great Lakes caused by interactions between excessive fertilizer run-off from farms and invasive zebra and quagga mussels. The report comes on the same day that NWF testified before the U.S. Senate Environment for Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife on the report findings.

Read the report and Senate testimony of Andy Buchsbaum at: www.nwf.org/greatlakes

The report, “Feast and Famine in the Great Lakes: How Nutrients and Invasive Species Interact to Overwhelm the Coasts and Starve Offshore Waters,” details the links between enormous algal blooms in Lake Erie that threaten the health of people and wildlife and a 95 percent decline in fish biomass in Lake Huron.

“Too much food is causing massive algal blooms in Lake Erie and other coastal systems, while too little food is making fish starve in Lake Huron’s offshore waters,” said Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. “Nutrient-rich runoff from farms is growing a huge crop of algae along the lakes’ coasts, but those nutrients aren’t making it out to the water in the middle of the lakes. Quagga mussels are consuming almost all of it, leaving nothing left in the water for fish to eat.”

The dual feast-and-famine crises plaguing the Lakes, according to the report, are leading to a collapse of the base of the food web, declines in desirable sport fish populations such as lake whitefish and salmon, and resurgence of toxic algae blooms and the Lake Erie “Dead Zone.”

“This feast-and-famine dichotomy is unprecedented,” said report-co-author Julie Mida Hinderer. “Rapid and drastic ecosystem changes are altering the Great Lakes from top to bottom. The impacts we’re witnessing are a sign that the Great Lakes need urgent help.”

Among the report findings that illustrate how excessive nutrients are overwhelming coastal areas:

• This summer Lake Erie experienced the worst toxic algal bloom in recorded history – worse than when the lake was declared dead in the 1960s.
• The bloom, involving the toxic alga Microcystis, at one point extended across almost the entire western basin and into the central basin, and in some places was up to 2 feet thick.
• The toxic algae can sicken or even kill people. A toxin from the algae was measured in this summer’s bloom at 1,000 times the World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water.
• Algal blooms are significant, although so far less severe, in Saginaw Bay (Michigan), Green Bay (Wisconsin), and along the Lake Michigan coastline, among other areas, and federal agencies rate nearshore areas in all lakes but Lake Superior as “poor” for nutrient phosphorus concentrations.

The report also documents how invasive zebra and quagga mussels have consumed much of the food in the offshore waters of the lakes, causing fish to starve:

• The biomass of prey fish (which are fed upon by predators such as salmon) in the open waters of Lake Huron has declined by 95 percent in just 15 years.
• The populations of the tiny freshwater shrimp at the base of the Great Lakes food web, Diporeia, have declined in Lake Michigan by 94 percent in 10 years.

“This report is a wake-up call that we need to take action now,” said Frank Krist, who chairs the Lake Huron Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “That sucking sound you hear is the disappearance of the base of the Great Lakes food web, which is impacting some of the most desirable sport fish in the region. Reversing this damage has got to be a top priority to protect our lakes, our fish and our economy.”

Rick Unger, president of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, has seen some of the economic damage first hand. He blames nutrient-fed algae blooms for a steep decline in charter boat captains operating on Lake Erie—from 800 in 2010 to 700 this year.

“The cost of doing business is skyrocketing,” according to Unger, who says that charter boats have to journey at least 10 miles farther out into the lakes to avoid harmful algae blooms to fish. “Bookings are down. People don’t want to go onto the water. Once people have been out in the algae they don’t want to go back. Unless things change, more people will be out of business.”

It will take a comprehensive response, according to the report, to solve the emerging nutrient crisis in the Great Lakes. Among the recommendations in “Feast and Famine” are:

• Forging a stronger Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to achieve nutrient-reduction goals;
• Supporting federal Farm Bill programs to reduce polluted agricultural run-off;
• Using the Clean Water Act to uphold water quality standards;
• Focusing protection efforts in Lake Erie; and,
• Targeting Great Lakes restoration programs to reduce nutrient pollution.

“The challenges facing the Great Lakes are no less severe today than they were in the 1960s when Lake Erie was declared ‘dead,’” said Michael Murray, staff scientist at the National Wildlife Federation and co-author of the report. “Strong federal action and increased coordination helped revive the Great Lakes then. Strong action can help them rebound now—so long as policy makers act with urgency to support solutions that protect the lakes and the people and wildlife which depend on them.”

For more National Wildlife Federation news visit www.nwf.org/greatlakes

NECIS has worked for years to strengthen federal screening of horticultural imports.  In 2011 USDA APHIS completed a new rule that created a category listing plants that are “Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Assessment” (NAPPRA).  This category allows APHIS to better protect the country from plant invaders while minimizing adverse impacts.  NECIS prepared comments to APHIS on the first list of species to be considered for NAPPRA listing.  Click the link below to view those comments.

NECIS letter to APHIS on Q37 2011 09 26 (2)