Weed Management Areas

(This text is extracted from the New York State Invasive Species Task Force Draft Report)

Weed Management Areas are local organizations of landowners and private and public - including city, county, state and federal - land managers who work together in combating invasive plants within a given geographical area. The goal of the Weed Management Area program is to promote cooperative efforts to manage invasive plants through an integrated approach and to work toward desired plant communities at the watershed level. Weed Management Areas often function under the authority of a mutually developed Memorandum of Understanding, are governed by a steering committee, and are charged with developing and implementing a Weed Management Area Management Plan. Once a Management Plan is complete, a Weed Management Area is eligible for funding.

Weed Management Areas in the western United States can receive funding through the Center for Invasive Plant Management, which offers a small competitive grants program that has funded 58 programs in 14 western states. Weed Management Areas are also supported through national and regional funding sources such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, National Park Service, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and National Biological Control Institute, or through a state's agriculture or natural resources departments.

Once a predominantly western program, Weed Management Areas are now beginning to develop in the eastern United States. In New York State, several Weed Management Areas are already established. These include: the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program; Long Island Weed Management Area; and the St. Lawrence-Eastern Lake Ontario Weed Management Area.