Cooperative Agreement Between the Department of the Interior National Park Service and University of Connecticut

United States Department of the Interior

Contract between the Department of the Interior and the University of Connecticut corcerning the University working with parks in the northest on documenting Invasive Plant Species. Gives specific instructions to the University on money use and amount. The case has been made by many scientists (e.g Ridgeway et al. 1999, Moondey and Hobbs 2000, United State Invasive Species Draft Management Plan: Preparing for the Future 2000) that invasive species pose perhaps the greatest threat to global biodiversity and ecosystem function. President Bill Clinton's Executive Order of February 3, 1999 calls for the development of: 1) an increased knowledge base on invasive species taht will provide an assessment of their current status and their ecological characteristics, 2) new tools for an early warning system of potential invaders and means for rapid assessment of the status of invaders or potential invaders, and 3) an elevated educational awareness of invasive species and their environmental threat. Education and training are extremely important to the long-term success and usefulness of this proposed project. The inclusion of park staff, interns, and volunteers in education programs on invasive plant biology, habitat requirements, and management options will assure that the skills needed to identify, priorities, and manage invasive are located in each park. In addition to trained park staff, trained students will be utilized to assess and quantify the current distribution of invasive plants in a park. This information will provide a baseline by which the efficacy of management practices and techniques can be evaluated.

Cooperative Agreement Between the Department of the Interior National Park Service and University of Connecticut

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