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Congress
Takes Up the Fight Against Invasive Plants
Federal
legislation is working its way through Congress that will help in the effort
to control invasive plants. The
proposed bill, known as the “Harmful Invasive Weed Control Act,” would create
a program in the Department of Interior to provide assistance through States
to eligible weed management entities to control or eradicate harmful,
nonnative weeds on public and private land. It is sponsored by Senators Craig (R-Idaho) and Daschle
(D-South Dakota) in the Senate and by Representative Hefley (R-Colorado Springs)
in the House of Representatives. Work has been progressing on the bills and
public meetings were held recently across the U.S. to solicit feedback from
local citizens.
The
text of the House and Senate versions of the bills, as well as their current status
may be viewed at: http://thomas.loc.gov. Enter a search for bill number H.R.
1462 or S.198, or search by using “invasive weed”
Following is a portion of the bill’s
text.
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H.R. 1462
Harmful Invasive Weed Control Act of
2002 (Reported in House)
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Interior
to establish a program to provide assistance through States to eligible weed
management entities to control or eradicate harmful, nonnative weeds on
public and private land.
Be it enacted by the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT
TITLE.
This Act may be cited as
the `Harmful Invasive Weed Control Act of 2002'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND
PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS- Congress
finds the following:
(1) There exists no dedicated, coordinated Federal effort to address,
control, or eradicate harmful, invasive terrestrial weeds.
(2) Public and private land in the United States faces unprecedented
and severe stress from harmful, invasive weeds.
(3) The economic and resource value of the land is being destroyed as
harmful invasive weeds overtake native vegetation, making the land unusable
for forage and for diverse plant and animal communities.
(4) Damage caused by harmful invasive weeds has been estimated to run
in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
(5) Successfully fighting this scourge will require coordinated
action by all affected stakeholders, which may include Federal, State, and
local governments, private landowners, and nongovernmental organizations.
(6) The fight must begin at the local level, since it is at the local
level that persons feel the loss caused by harmful invasive weeds and will
therefore have the greatest motivation to take effective action.
(7) To date, effective action has been hampered by inadequate funding
at all levels of government and by inadequate coordination.
(b) PURPOSES- The
purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To direct the Secretary to coordinate with the National Invasive
Species Council to develop a dedicated program to combat harmful, invasive
terrestrial weeds.
(2) To provide assistance to eligible weed management entities in carrying
out projects to control or eradicate harmful, invasive weeds on public and
private land.
(3) To coordinate projects with existing weed management entities,
areas, districts, and ongoing partnerships.
(4) In locations in which no weed management entity, area, or
district exists, to stimulate the formation of additional local or regional
cooperative weed management entities, such as entities for weed management
areas or districts, that organize locally affected stakeholders to control or
eradicate weeds.
(5) To leverage additional funds from a variety of public and private
sources to control or eradicate weeds through local stakeholders.
(6) To promote healthy, diverse, and desirable plant communities by
abating through a variety of measures the threat posed by harmful, invasive
weeds.
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