Open for Comment: Department of the Interior’s Invasive Species Plan
Furthers federal actions to aggressively combat invasive species from Guam to the Everglades
On August 13th, the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Trump Administration released their strategic plan for managing invasive species. This plan– tackling invasive species management with stakeholders from the Great Lakes region to Guam– is open to public comment for 60 days and teleconferences have been scheduled for public participation.
The Department marks that significant action is necessary to manage invasive species given their widespread environmental, recreational, and agricultural impacts. They report that $143 million has been invested by the Interior alone in 2020 to combat invasive species.
“The Trump Administration has been focused on addressing the considerable, negative impacts of invasive species by working across jurisdictional boundaries with our partners,” said Interior’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget Scott Cameron. “The draft plan sets out a vision for effectively managing invasive species through collaborative conservation to protect our nation’s biodiversity and economy.”
The Department also notes, “In accordance with the John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management and Recreation Act of 2019, and in consultation with states, Tribes and other stakeholders, the plan both reflects ongoing work by Interior and its partners and leverages opportunities to respond to emerging issues driven by the priorities of state governors.”
Focuses of this agency-wide approach include:
- promote partnerships to bolster mutual priorities,
- raise awareness to motivate action,
- strengthen prevention practices to avoid invasive species introductions and spread,
- improve the coordination of early detection and rapid response efforts across jurisdictions,
- leverage opportunities for targeted control and eradication and
- improve data collection and data management to facilitate more effective decision-making.
Comment Period and Participation
The draft Invasive Species Strategic Plan is published in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period. Comments may be submitted via www.regulations.gov. There are two upcoming public teleconference listening sessions to provide input on the draft Plan: Thursday, September 24, 2020 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm Eastern and Monday, September 28, 2020 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm Eastern. To participate in one of these sessions, please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/tfgu83p by 5:00pm Eastern on September 21. Any written comments will also be accepted by Friday, October 9, 2020 by 11:59 pm.
View the full press release here.