Invasive species have been identified by the Chief of the U.S.Department of Agriculture Forest Service as one of the four significant threats to our Nation’s forest and rangeland ecosystems. In response to this identified threat, a multidisciplinary team of specialists, managers, and researchers has worked together to produce a National Strategy and Implementation Plan for Invasive Species Management.
What is an Invasive Species?
Invasive species have been characterized as a “catastrophic wildfire in slow motion.” Thousands of non-native invasive plants, insects, fish, mollusks, crustaceans, pathogens, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have infested hundreds of millions of acres of land and water across the Nation, causing massive disruptions in ecosystem function, reducing biodiversity, and degrading ecosystem health in our Nation’s forests, prairies, mountains, wetlands, rivers, and oceans. Invasive organisms affect the health of not only the Nation’s forests and rangelands but also of wildlife, livestock, fish, and humans.
A species is considered invasive if it meets these two criteria:
It is nonnative to the ecosystem under consideration, and
Its introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.
This definition is derived from Executive Order 13112, issued on February 3, 1999, which established the National Invasive Species Council.