Forest Service Announces National Strategy to Combat Invasive Species
October 28 -- The USDA Forest Service has unveiled a national strategy toprevent and control the threat of invasive species and non-native plants inthe United States.
Known as the National Strategy and Implementation Plan
for Invasive Species Management, the plan focuses on four key elements:
preventing invasive species before they arrive, finding new infestations
before they spread and become established, containing and reducing existing
infestations, and rehabilitating and restoring native habitats and
ecosystems.
According to the Forest Service, the plan will use an early warning system
to help land managers detect new invasive species. Title VI of the 2004
Healthy Forests Restoration Act mandated the Forest Service to develop such
a system to improve its detection and response abilities to ecological
disturbances across the nation.
The agency estimates that 70 million acres of public and private lands are
at serious risk from 26 different insects and diseases nationwide, most of
which are non-native.
For more information about the Forest Service invasive species plan, visit
the agency’s website.
http://wwwtest.fs.fed.us/news/2004/releases/10/invasives-species.shtml
