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some initiatives developed by the Florida Exotic Plant Pest Council 

 that you would recommend to Federal pest agencies? 



Mr. SCHMITZ. Yes. As a matter of fact, the reason why the Flor- 

 ida Exotic Pest Plant Council has been successful is because it is 

 basically comprised of mid-level managers. We are not dealing with 

 territorialities. Basically people are coming together who under- 

 stand really what is at stake, and we have been successful. 



But, unfortunately, coordination only goes so far in dealing with 

 this problem. Funding is essential, as Howard was saying before. 

 Fun(hng is essential. We do not have the money to go out and effec- 

 tively manage the exotics that we have right now. 



Another problem is we really need someone to take the lead in 

 this issue. I disagree a little bit with Howard, but I really think 

 a Federal agency needs to be appointed to have the responsibility. 

 Because what we are finding in Florida is that since no one has 

 the responsibility, there is still a fragmentated approach. 



Let me give you an example. From the turn of the century 

 through the 1960's, water hyacinth control was fragmented. There 

 were various State and Federal agencies that were every now and 

 then dabbling into water hyacinth management. During the 1950's 

 and early 1960's, we had 126,000 acres of water hyacinths that 

 clogged our waterways. It was not until the early 1970's when the 

 State of Florida, the legislature, established a comprehensive 

 aquatic plant control program in the State. 



What happened was that since there was now a lead or a des- 

 ignated agency, we coordinated the efforts. And instead, duplica- 

 tion of efforts were eliminated. We funded money for research to 

 find long-term solutions to water hyacinths, and today I am 

 pleased to report that we have now about a thousand acres of 

 water hyacinths in the State of Florida. That is a result of inte- 

 grated plant management, a combination of herbicides and bio-con- 

 trol agents, and the concept of maintenance control, maintaining 

 an invasive exotic plant species at their lowest population level so 

 that you minimize the amount of pesticides that go out in the envi- 

 ronment and you minimize the cost to the taxpayers most of all, 

 from my perspective, you minimize the negative environmental im- 

 pacts that these exotics cause in the environment. 



Senator Akaka. In your statement you proposed the need of a 

 lead agency. I hope that whatever pests there are, we might be 

 able to designate lead agencies to deal with them, and in some 

 cases on an emergency basis before the problem gets out-of-hand. 



Mr. Singletary, dedicated Federal data bases, such as the Animal 

 Welfare Information Center at the National Agricultural Library, 

 have been established to provide State and Federal agency users 

 with ready access to the latest techniques in their discipline or in- 

 dustry. Would an agricultural data base on the biology, control, and 

 eradication techniques of alien plant and animal species be a useful 

 tool? 



Mr. Singletary. Most definitely, Senator, and I would hke to po- 

 tentially add to what that data base might contain in terms of look- 

 ing at plant and animal species worldwide, with emphasis on po- 

 tential noxious qu£ilities and invasiveness. If we had access to that 

 kind of information plus the elements contained in your question, 



