26 



that can be done if the agencies would move. And I would just take 

 advantage of this opportunity to say that APHIS is one of the most 

 recalcitrant agencies that I have ever dealt with, and I would en- 

 courage you and the other members of this Committee to lean on 

 them as hard as you can. They are not going to deal with the for- 

 ests or the weeds unless somebody tells them explicitly that they 

 must and keeps on their tail about it. 



Senator Akaka. Thank you, Dr. Campbell. 



Dr. Jensen, The Nature Conservancy is well known. In Hawaii, 

 they are very active. The people of Hawaii appreciate the commit- 

 ment of your organization to habitat species conservation in our 

 State. 



In a 1987 survey, the National Park Service asked its park su- 

 perintendents to identify the problems which most threaten the 

 well-being of our parks. Park superintendents were allowed to rank 

 problems of all kinds: crime, vandalism, shortages of resources, and 

 so forth. 



The response of park superintendents was overwhelming. They 

 rated alien pests as the most common threat to park natursd re- 

 sources. 



As a private land manager. Dr. Jensen, would you agree with the 

 priority that park superintendents have given this problem? 



Ms. Jensen. Yes, Senator, I would. In fact, one of our staff mem- 

 bers, Dr. John Randall, has conducted a similar survey of land 

 managers in our 50 State programs. He asked if invasive plant spe- 

 cies were a management problem for them. All of the land man- 

 agers responding to the survey said that invasive plant species 

 were a serious management problem on their preserves. Sixty per- 

 cent said they were one of the top 10 management problems they 

 face, and 13 percent said it was the number one management prob- 

 lem on their preserve. 



The programs reporting the worst problems were Hawaii, Cali- 

 fornia, and Florida, but it is certainly a very high priority issue for 

 our organization. 



Senator Akaka. The September report of the Office of Technology 

 Assessment has a full chapter devoted to a detailed case study of 

 the threat that alien species pose to native ecosystems in Hawaii. 

 The report described Hawaii as the State most in need of a com- 

 prehensive policy to address non-indigenous species, and rec- 

 ommended that Hawaii, because of its geographic isolation, was in 

 need of a separate national policy with its own programs and re- 

 sources. 



The Nature Conservancy has one of the largest programs in Ha- 

 waii. Do you agree with this OTA proposal? 



Ms. Jensen. While I agree with the findings of the OTA that Ha- 

 waii needs special attention, I would hope we could create a na- 

 tional policy that would work outside of Hawaii as well as in Ha- 

 waii. As we have heard today, there are problems in all the States 

 of the country. The problems are due to the lack of a comprehen- 

 sive national policy which addresses aquatic and marine 

 ecosystems as well as the terrestrial ecosystems. 



So I would hope we could make Hawadi the exemplar and use it 

 as a place to learn how to make a national policy work. 



