SOP #04: Sanitation Protocol. Version 1.01. Pacific Island Network Focal Terrestrial Plant Communities Monitoring Protocol. Unpublished National Park Service Report, Pacific Island Inventory and Monitoring Network, Hawaii National Park, Hawaii.
Ainsworth A, Gross J, Akamine K. 2021. SOP #04: Sanitation Protocol. Version 1.01. Pacific Island Network Focal Terrestrial Plant Communities Monitoring Protocol. Unpublished National Park Service Report, Pacific Island Inventory and Monitoring Network, Hawaii National Park, Hawaii.
This SOP explains the sanitation procedures that all field crews should implement to ensure that invasive plant and animal species are not spread by field crews working near, in, and around invasive species populations or in areas that are native-dominated. Sanitation, in this context, is best defined as the removal and destruction of invasive species, plant parts or propagules through the decontamination of vehicles, tools, equipment, supplies, clothes, and hands to prevent the spread of invasive plants, animals, or pathogens. The required sanitation procedures should be implemented by all agencies and organizations that work in natural areas of high ecological value, as one of the major dispersal mechanisms of invasive species into these areas is through human actions (i.e., on field staff, vehicles, helicopters, pack animals, equipment and supplies). Before working in any park, review all sanitation guidelines for that park, and then implement whichever sanitation protocol (this protocol or the park’s protocol) is more stringent. In all cases, field crews are responsible for understanding and implementing sanitation guidelines before, during, and after monitoring events.