Formulation Strategies of State Noxious Weed Lists and EPPC Lists. Dr. Jack Ranney, Ecologist, TN EPPC & University of Tennessee. (jwranney@utk.edu)

ABSTRACT

Invasive plant lists for natural areas may be driven by state or federal agencies for legal enforcement (noxious weed lists) or non-binding consensus (invasivespecies.gov), coalition-driven and dominated by resource managers as with many EPPCs for non-binding consensus in resource management, and coalition-driven with a mix of resource managers, state agencies, and nursery industries (some EPPCs) for recommendations as binding or not. There are many different combinations of these and each state, EPPC, or coalition must choose what works for it but consensus on one list is important. Agreed-upon criteria for making lists are crucial even though knowledge of invasive threats may be imperfect. These lists are never final requiring acceptable revision methodologies, recognition of legal developments such as seed company sales that may waive state lists for transport & importation and the issues of horticulture and plant breeding industries constantly coming up with cultivars.