Early Detection and Rapid Response

Describes detection methods for invasive plant species and coordinated responses to these threats. See Manager's Tool Kit - Early Detection and Rapid Response for general resources and other species.

Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW) National EDRR Plan for Invasive Plants

Background: Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW), is leading a national effort to develop and implement a National Early Detection and Rapid Response System for Invasive Plants in the United States. The primary long term goals of the proposed system are to detect, report, and identify suspected new plants with free living populations in the United States.

• Phase I - Outreach and Education
• Phase II - Pilot Projects: With New England (with the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England - University of Connecticut), the Mid-South (Mississippi State Univ.), North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Hawaii

Program Resources

• A National Early Detection and Rapid Response System for Invasive Plants in the United States: Conceptual Design (Sep 2003; PDF | 3.43 MB)
  Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds.
• National Early Warning and Rapid Response System For Invasive Plants in the United States (Draft) (Mar 15, 2002; PDF | 1.07 MB)
  Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds.
• Invasive Plants: Coming to America. Overview of the FICMNEW National Early Detection and Rapid Response System for Invasive Plants (Jan 26, 2004; PDF | 530 KB)
  DOI. United States Geological Survey.
• FICMNEW Web site
  Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds.

Detecting Plants Pests and Weed Nationwide: The Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (Jul 2005; PDF | 392 KB)
USDA. APHIS. Plant Protection and Quarantine.

Early Detection
University of Connecticut. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Invasive Plant Atlas of New England.

Exotic Plant Management Teams (scroll down to see team deployed around the country)
DOI. NPS. Biological Resource Management Division.

Nevada’s War on Weeds, Steps to Success, Step 5 – Avoid Exploding Weed Populations with Prevention and Early Detection (PDF | 122 KB)
University of Nevada - Reno. Cooperative Extension Service.