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Rules on invasive species stall; delay may be costly By JIM LYNCH, The Detroit News A year after the Asian carp’s threat to the Great Lakes threw a national spotlight on invasive species, critics say no definitive action on the issue’s two key focal points has been made. Ballast water from oceangoing ships, considered the largest source of invasive species in the Great Lakes, remains largely unregulated. And the Mississippi River system, where the Asian carp is firmly entrenched, remains connected to the Great Lakes. While there has been progress on both issues behind the scenes, conservationists say the pace is unacceptable and leaves the Great Lakes playing a game of Russian roulette year after year. "Maybe another year or two of waiting doesn’t seem daunting, but if you get a new invasion of some species like zebra mussels that shows up in six months, then you could have a catastrophe on your hands," said Andy Buchsbaum, regional director of the National Wildlife Federatio...

Updated 1/15. New articles are at the bottom of this week's blog. --------------------------------------------------------- New Hampshire Lakes launches a new exotic weed control grant program Thanks to Senator Judd Gregg, NH LAKES has secured federal funding to help lake associations and municipalities manage their exotic infestations in 2010. Matching grant awards of up to $5,000 will be available to assist local groups in their efforts to purchase or construct Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting systems, hire Certified Weed Control divers to harvest infestations, and implement other forms of non-chemical control. For more information and to download a grant application, visit our website, email info@nhlakes.org, or call (603) 226-0299. Grant applications will be due in mid-February. --------------------------------------------------------- Reptile restrictions to be voted on by Senate by Laura Mandanas Reporter Online “All those snakes except for a boa constrictor can get huge. ...

Updated June 14 -------------------------------------------------------- N.Y. setting traps for invasive beetles Dave Henderson, Ithaca Journal New York is targeting another potential invasive species, a tree-eating beetle named the Emerald Ash Borer. The Department of Environmental Conservation will be deploying the purple prism traps in treelines throughout the state in an attempt to trap the beetles. There will also be a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species. The main route that enables this insect, as well as other invasive species, to spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That is why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source ( http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/28722.html ). New York has more than 900 mill...

Renewed concerns over invasive beetle in Vermont and New Hampshire Summer brings renewed concerns about the Asian longhorned beetle. The invasive pest has an appetite for maple trees, and has devastated entire forests in Massachusetts. So far, Vermont and New Hampshire have escaped the invasion. But the concern is that the bugs will be transported here in firewood carried by campers. As a precaution, New Hampshire next month will ban out-of-state firewood at federal and state-owned campgrounds. From WCAX News. Link -------------------------------------------------------- Madison High School students control invasives at Wildlife Refuge MADISON, NJ -- It was almost lunchtime on the Madison High School Day of Service and Mark DeBiasse, History Department Chairperson and Service Learning Coordinator, said that his cell phone had not rung once yet to report a problem from any of the more than 40 work sites he was supervising. Sawing, drilling, measuring, mulching, planting, drawing, painti...

Updated May 8 --------------------------------------------------------- H.R. 669: Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act H.R. 669 was introduced in January 2009 by Madeleine Bordallo (U.S. Delegate, Guam). The purpose of the bill is to prevent the introduction and establishment of nonnative wildlife species that negatively impact the economy, environment, or other animal species' or human health, and for other purposes. A subcomittee hearing was held on Apr 23. You can watch a video of the hearing here. The bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to promulgate regulations establishing a process for assessing the risk of all nonnative wildlife species proposed for importation into the United States, other than those included in a list of approved species issued under the Act. The bill would establish prohibitions on: (1) importation or transportation between states of nonnative species that are not included in the list of approved species; (2) permit violations; and (3)...