OOS 32-9
Setting and implementing regional strategies for landscape-scale invasive plant management
Detecting and responding to invasive plant populations before they spread is the most effective way of limiting their impact, but prioritizing invasive plant populations at the landscape scale is challenging. Working with public and private land managers, we developed a transparent process to set regional priorities for invasive plant management. The process is being used by seven multi-county regions in California (comprising 30 of the state’s 58 counties) to set priorities. To date, two regions have secured funding for on-the-ground management projects based on their prioritization, and others are developing funding proposals.
Our approach uses spatial distribution data from CalWeedMapper, an online decision-support tool with statewide maps of >200 invasive plants in California. These maps combine field observations recorded in the online Calflora database with expert knowledge gathered from 100 meetings around to state. Based on each plant’s distribution, CalWeedMapper suggests regional management priorities in the areas of surveillance, eradication and containment. For 40% of the plants, CalWeedMapper also aids analysis by displaying the projected shift in suitable range due to climate change by mid-century. From this information, regional stakeholders select top eradication priorities and scope management projects, including budgets.
Results/Conclusions
Seven regions have selected priority species for eradication and surveillance (typically 8-12 species per region per category). Of these regions, five have completed eradication work plans with budgets, and four have completed training materials to aid plant identification and reporting. Two regions have secured funding to implement on-the-ground projects based on their work plans, and two other regions are currently developing funding proposals. More than forty organizations are significantly involved in collaborative regional planning through this process.
The two-county Northwest California region, comprising two counties that span from the Cascade mountains to the Pacific Ocean, is one of those currently developing a proposal. This project will focus on region-wide eradication of knotweed (Fallopia spp., 85 populations in coastal watersheds), spurge (Euphorbia spp., 29 populations along the Klamath River), and rush skeletonweed (Chondrilla juncea, roadside populations along the Smith River). The 5-year project budget will be in the $1M range, a scale that is only possible because this mapping and prioritization approach provides funding agencies (such as California’s Wildlife Conservation Board) with a strong transparent rationale for eradicating these populations before they spread and have much greater ecological impact.