Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: ornamentals

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

Target Pests

• Target Pests: invasive terrestrial plants

Practices

• Pest Management: decision support system, prevention

• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity

Invasive plants continue to be sold across the Northeast, increasing their spread and associated harm to natural ecosystems, crop systems, and working forests and contributing to the range expansion of more southerly species. Although most states regulate the sale of some invasive plants, the identity of regulated plants is highly inconsistent across states. Inconsistent regulations fail to slow the spread of existing invasive plants and fail to prevent the introduction of emerging invasive plants. Inconsistent regulations are largely attributable to lack of capacity - volunteer members of state invasive plant councils cannot evaluate all potential invasive plants and need help to prioritize potential species for evaluation. Members of an existing working group of Northeast Invasive Plant Council representatives, led by the proposed project team, have asked for scientific support to create a regional invasive plant list to identify priority species for evaluation and enhance coordination efforts. The proposed project will synthesize dozens of existing datasets to create a database of regionally invasive plants in the Northeast. Source datasets include national, state, and municipal invasive plants lists, species-level risk and impact assessments, and geographic occurrence and abundance information. These datasets have never been synthesized, making it impossible to answer the question ‘which plants are invasive?’ in the Northeast. This proposal will create a regional list of invasive plants in the Northeast based on existing information about negative impacts and abundance. We anticipate that the new dataset will identify priority species for future evaluation by working group member states. In addition, the proposed outreach products, such as a pamphlet and recorded presentation, will be disseminated broadly to land managers and natural resource educators to extend the project’s reach. The need for a science-based and clearly documented Northeast regional invasive plant list was expressed by members of the Northeast Invasive Plant Councils working group, which we will continue to coordinate and which will be engaged throughout the proposed project. This project addresses a priority topic of the Northeastern IPM Center, National IPM priorities, and Executive Orders. Ultimately, the proposed work will create a single, go-to resource of current and emerging invasive plants across Northeastern states, informing coordinated management and prevention efforts and decreasing the harm caused by invasive plants.