Summary Statement

The New England Invasive Plant Center was initiated in 2006 through a grant from USDA CSREES.  The University of Connecticut (UConn), the University of Vermont (UVM) and the University of Maine (UMaine) are establishing a multi-state, interdisciplinary program to develop novel and effective technologies to address problems caused by invasive plants that are economically and environmentally damaging to New England and to the nation as a whole.

Background

Each year, 3 million acres of American land are taken over by invasive weeds.  An invasive species is defined as a species (plant, insect or animal) that does not naturally occur in a specific area and whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.  Controlling invasive species and associated economic and environmental damages amount to approximately $137 billion per year. The spread of invasive plants is ranked second, behind habitat loss, as the greatest threat to biological diversity and ecosystem function in the U.S.  In agricultural as well as non-crop areas, invasive plants have severe economic impacts.  Based on the most recent available figures from 1999, on the top of a $24 billion direct loss caused by introduced weeds to the U.S. agriculture, additional losses include approximately $4 billion per year in herbicides are applied to U.S. crops, of which about $3 billion per year is used for control of non-indigenous weeds. More than $500 million is spent on residential exotic weed control and an additional $1 billion is invested in non-indigenous weed control on golf courses. Invasive weed woody plants also have a huge economic impact.  Federal agency expenditures for invasive plant control in forests and federal lands exceed $50 million each year.

The problem is so serious that it is estimated that weed management could be the single largest natural resource line item in the Federal budget by the year 2010.  In 1993, after an extensive review of exotic species, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) concluded that pest plants and animals have an effect not only on natural areas but also on agriculture, industry and human health. In its report, Harmful Non-Indigenous Species in the United States, the agency noted that from 1906 to 1991, just 79 problem plants and animals caused documented losses of $97 billion, and that a worst-case scenario for a mere 15 potentially high-impact species could cause another $134 billion in future economic losses.