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Breaking New Ground The U.S. Forest Service’s New Directive on Invasives By Laura Bies
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n December 5, 2011, the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) published the final new National Forest System invasive species management policy (the “directive”), a comprehensive approach to dealing with terrestrial and aquatic invasive species on all 193 million acres in the National Forest System (NFS), which includes national forests and grasslands from Alaska to Puerto Rico. The new directive—Forest Service Manual Chapter 2900: Invasive Species Management—marks the first time that USFS has a policy that addresses all taxa of invasives. It’s also one of the most comprehensive policy documents dealing with invasives that the government has ever produced. The effort took root nearly a decade ago, when then-USFS Chief Dale Bosworth identified invasive species as one of the four key issues facing the NFS. “Public lands—especially federal lands—have become the last refuge for endangered species, the last place where they can find the habitat they need to survive,” said Bosworth. “If invasives take over, imperiled [native] animals and plants will have nowhere else to go.” That pronouncement launched a massive effort within the USFS to craft a strategic response to the invasive species threat. The work began in 2004 with the launch of the National Strategy and Implementation Plan for Invasive Species Management, and culminated with the new directive.
harm or harm to human health.” USFS uses this definition in its directive, meaning that species to be managed under the policy must be both non-native and causing or likely to cause harm, such as impacting the environment through disruption of natural communities and ecological processes, or out-competing native species for food and habitats, thereby leading to less diverse ecosystems. The USFS is unique among federal agencies in having such a detailed policy for dealing with invasive species. It clearly defines roles and assigns responsibility for USFS personnel at all levels of the agency, from the head of the agency through deputy chiefs, program directors, regional foresters, and district rangers. (For a breakdown of responsibilities, go to news.wildlife.org.) It also lays out the principles for invasive management within the NFS.
The product of nearly nine years of development, the policy will become part of the agency’s series of directives forming the core of how the NFS is managed. “They’re what we rely on when we make decisions on the ground,” says Michael Ielmini, National Invasive Species Program Manager with USFS. “That’s why it is so important to have a directive dealing with invasive species management.”
Countless Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis) overrun a pine tree in Colorado’s Pike National Forest. Originally from eastern Asia, lady beetles were brought to North America to control aphids.
Weeding Out the Problem
The invasives directive builds off of Executive Order 13112, issued in February 1999, which defines invasive species as “an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental
© The Wildlife Society
Courtesy of Laura Bies
Laura Bies is Director of Government Affairs for The Wildlife Society.
Credit: Joe Maskasky/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
www.wildlife.org
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