Invasive species

Funding Encourages Eradication of Invasive Pest

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, DC – Today, Reps. Michael E. McMahon and Anthony D. Weiner, colleagues in the New York City Delegation, announce that $33 million in funds had been allocated to exterminate the Asian Long-Horned Beetle (ALB), an invasive pest that has destroyed tens of thousands of trees in the New York metropolitan area and is considered a serious threat to the city. The funding was awarded as part of the Agriculture Appropriations Act, which passed the House this afternoon.    » read more »

Federal Dollars Would Fight Invasive Species, Pollution And Contamination

October 2, 2009 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined with their Great Lakes colleagues this week to call for $475 million for the Great Lakes in the combined Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

The Senate version of the legislation only included $400 million, whereas the house version has $475 million. Schumer and Gillibrand are urging the conference committee tasked with combining the bills to approve the higher number. New York shares roughly 700 miles of coastline with the Great Lakes.    » read more »

NWF and NRDC Help Notch a Win with Implications Throughout the Great Lakes

(June 1, 2009) -- A New York State Supreme Court Justice dismissed a challenge brought by shipping interests against the state’s tough new ballast water requirements, which are designed to limit the introduction of more invasive species into the Great Lakes.

Legal experts at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) hail the win as a huge victory for states in the region that have taken an aggressive stand to limit dumping of water containing biological pollution from ocean going vessels. Alien species have already cost the Great Lakes economy billions of dollars.    » read more »

Greater Protections For Every Oregonian And Our Environment

May 27, 2009 -- (Salem) - Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed 68 bills into law, representing many ways the state will better regulate those who care for children, protect seniors when confronting guardianship proceedings and prevent invasive species from entering ecosystems throughout Oregon.

A summary of some of those bills is below. For the full list, visit: http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/2009_Action.shtml

Children and Families    » read more »

May 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel K. Inouye and Senator Daniel K. Akaka announced last week that the State of Hawaii will receive $4,486,000 to fight invasive plant species across the islands. The United States Department of Agriculture is distributing the funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Specific projects on both state and private lands will be selected by the State government.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009— Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for invasive species projects. In total, there are 19 projects, funded at over $38 million, in 14 states.

'These projects will provide for public health and safety by restoring forestlands and rangelands damaged by invasive species," said Vilsack. "Invasives weaken affected ecosystems and reduce resource benefits from forests and rangelands."

Invasive species affect the health of ecosystems by stressing the naturally-occurring species and competing with them for resources. Stressed ecosystems are at risk of loss. These funds will be used to suppress and control species such as: kudzu, cogon grass, and hemlock woolly adelgid.    » read more »

Conservation and science groups say new legislation would stop new species invasions from imports

WASHINGTON (January 28, 2008) — On Monday, the Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act (H.R. 669) was introduced by Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) to the House Natural Resources Committee. Conservation groups applaud this effort to limit risky and invasive animals and diseases they might carry from being imported to the United States in commerce.    » read more »

December 19, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that that the Senate has approved $9.25 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to continue operation and construction on the Asian Carp Barrier project. The funds were included in the omnibus appropriations bill passed by the Senate late yesterday. This barrier will prevent the spread of invasive species, including Asian Carp, between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.    » read more »

Federal Regulations Are Needed to Help Stop Ocean-Faring Vessels from Bringing Harmful Invasive Species into the Great Lakes

November 1, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and a group of his Senate colleagues from Great Lakes states want the Senate to address the critical issue of ballast water bringing invasive species into the Great Lakes.    » read more »

Invasive species?

4-Sep-2007 -- A dime-sized tropical crab that has invaded coastal waters in the Southeast United States is having both positive and negative effects on oyster reefs, leaving researchers unable to predict what the creature’s long-term impact will be.

Unlike native crabs that eat baby oysters, mussels and fish, the green porcelain crab Petrolisthes armatus is a filter feeder, extracting its food from the water much as oysters do.    » read more »

July 17, 2007 -- AUGUSTA – Biologists from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) are taking notice of the first confirmed reports in the eastern U.S. of an aggressive invasive crab species recently caught in crab pots located in Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River (New York).    » read more »

Update Upper Mississippi Locks

June 29, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his funding requests to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species and to update the Mississippi’s locks:    » read more »

June 27, 2007 -- (Ogallala, NE) Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning today presented $75,000 to the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) for invasive species removal at Lake McConaughy.

The money was made available through the Attorney General’s Environmental Court Ordered Settlement Fund, a fund generated from voluntary payments collected in court-approved settlements from entities that have violated state and federal environmental regulations.    » read more »

Ann Arbor, MI (June 21)—Conservation groups led by the National Wildlife
Federation today announced their intent to file a citizen suit against several shipping companies that operate in the Great Lakes, demanding compliance with the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit aims to shut the door on aquatic invasive species.    » read more »