A new President and Congress take office in January. And outgoing President Obama recently amended the Executive Order on invasive species.
What might the new leaders do to improve America’s invasive species programs?
Here are a group of actions that I think would improve programs significantly:
- amend the Lacey Act to strengthen controls over introduction and spread of invasive animals and animal diseases;
- raise the political profile of invasive species issues by holding more frequent oversight hearings;
- increase funding for invasive species prevention, containment, and control programs;
- support proposals to amend the 2019 Farm Bill to strengthen on-the-ground programs, policies, and research aimed at minimizing invasive species introduction, spread, and damage;
- during the confirmation process, Senators should ask President Trump’s nominees to leadership positions in the Departments of Agriculture and Interior about how they will address invasive species challenges.
Do we need new legislation mandating that federal land-managing agencies do X or Y with regard to invasive species? This was the focus of a hearing in May at which I testified.
Federal land-managing agencies are already authorized and – in some cases required – to act to control invasive species on lands and waters under their jurisdiction. Some of the existing statutes even authorize the agencies to apply fees paid by people who use the public lands for some purpose (e.g., livestock grazing, recreation) to management of invasive species.
Most of the statutes authorizing invasive species management incorporate that activity into the agency’s broader management goals for protection of wildlife, habitat, natural resources, historic or cultural sites, etc. For example, the USFS Manual §2900 lists 21 laws and 6 regulations or policies that govern the USFS’ management of invasive species. Some of these laws apply to all federal land-managing agencies, including:
- Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 (16 U.S.C. §§1531 et seq.)
- Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1201, 1201 (note), 1236, 1272, 1305). §515
- North American Wetland Conservation Act 1989 (16 U.S.C. 4401 (note), 4401-4413, 16 U.S.C. 669b (note)). §9 [U.S.C. 4408]
- Sikes Act (Fish and Wildlife Conservation) of September 15, 1960 (16 U.S.C. 670g-670l, 670o, P.L. 86-797), as amended. §201
- National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 [16 U.S.C. §§470 et seq.]
- Wilderness Act of 1964 (16 U.S.C. §§1131 et seq.
Other statutes apply only to resource management authorities of the USDA Forest Service; these include:
- Organic Administration Act of 1897 (16 U.S.C. §§ 473 et seq.).
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. § 661 et seq.).
- Knutson-Vandenberg Act of June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576, 576a-576b). §3 [16 U.S.C. 576b]
- Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 (7 U.S.C. §§1010 et seq.)
- Anderson-Mansfield Reforestation and Revegetation Act of October 11, 1949 (16 U.S.C. 581j (note), 581j, 581k)
- Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C. §§528 et seq.)
- Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 as amended by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976. §6
- International Forestry Cooperation Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. § 4501)
- Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (H.R. 1904), [16 U.S.C. 6501-6502, 6511-18, 6541-42, 6571-78]
- Wyden Amendment (P.L. 109-54, Section 434).
| For brief descriptions of all these statutes, see the references and links at the end of this blog posting. |
Advocates have tried before to legislate a specific requirement that federal agencies combat invasive species. The Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974 (7 U.S.C. § 2801 note; 7 U.S.C. § 2814) was amended in 1990 to add §15, “Management of Undesirable Plants on Federal Lands”. This section requires each federal agency to
1) designate an office or person adequately trained to develop and coordinate an undesirable plants management program for control of undesirable plants on federal lands under the agency’s jurisdiction, and
2) establish and adequately fund an undesirable plants management program through the agency’s budgetary process,
3) complete and implement cooperative agreements with state agencies regarding the management of undesirable plant species on federal lands, and
4) establish integrated management systems to control or contain undesirable plant species targeted under cooperative agreements.
This approach hasn’t worked – no one is satisfied by the federal agencies’ “weed” management efforts.
What is missing is a political demand for action – and support for necessary staff and funding. Agencies under the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior bear most of the responsibility for managing invasive species. As long as these officials are not being pressed by key Congressional committees, the media, and key stakeholders to take more aggressive and effective action to curtail species introductions and suppress established populations of bioinvaders, they will continue to focus their attention on issues that do generate these kinds of political pressure.
I am not saying that the principal statutes governing invasive species management could not be improved. As noted above, several proposals have been put forward to strengthen laws which are the foundation for preventing introduction of invasive species. I will blog about specific proposals in the new year.
Sources
USFS Invasive Species Manual
ANSTF/NISC report “Federal Policy Options Addressing the Movement of Aquatic Invasive Species Onto and Off of Federal Lands and Waters. 2015. Committee on the Movement of Aquatic Invasive Species both onto and off of Federal Lands and Waters.
Posted by Faith Campbell
We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.