58 



Exotic pests are a major threat to our native forest and range- 

 land ecosystems, but the Forest Service, along with other agencies 

 in the Department of Agriculture, will continue to work toward de- 

 veloping more effective and coordinated responses to prevent the 

 introduction of these pests and to control them if they do get estab- 

 lished. 



Th£ink you, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. McCleese. 



Mr. Davison, one of the criticisms of the Lacey Act is that regula- 

 tion and enforcement hinge on a short and non-comprehensive list 

 of injurious wildlife. Adding species to this list, whether adminis- 

 tratively or by statute, is time-consuming. The Lacey Act has also 

 been criticized for not providing comprehensive regulation of inter- 

 state transport of federally-listed species and for not being clear re- 

 garding its application to hybrid and feral animals. 



Programs to control or eradicate alien fish and wildlife are piece- 

 meal, lacking emergency measures, and have no proactive compo- 

 nents to catch problems early. Options for correcting these prob- 

 lems range from lengthening the list of injurious wildlife, speeding 

 the process of adding species to the Lacey Act list, and authorizing 

 emergency measures to deal with new introductions. 



My question to you is would a strengthened Lacey Act, based on 

 some of the modifications I have just suggested, be a partial im- 

 provement on the current system of combatting these pests? 



Dr. Davison. I think the answer to that is possibly yes, and I 

 think the Department would certainly support an effort to look at 

 some of those questions and to ensure that the consequences of 

 some of those changes would help improve our abilities to control 

 undesirable non-indigenous species. 



I think, in particular, one of the things that may merit further 

 examination is to look at some kind of ability for pre-listing of spe- 

 cies under the Lacey Act on a temporary basis to allow the service 

 to put a species on the list, on a so-called 'dirty list', if you will, 

 while it examines potential risks, and so forth. That may be some- 

 thing that warrants consideration, and we would support such an 

 effort to look at that. 



Senator Akaka. Should the Fish and Wildlife Service assist in 

 the enforcement of State injurious wildlife lists? 



Dr. Davison. The Lacey Act was primarily intended to assist 

 States in taking enforcement actions against individuals who vio- 

 lated the laws of that State and then no longer were within the ju- 

 risdiction of that State. In situations where someone has violated 

 the wildlife law of the State and is still within the jurisdiction of 

 that State, our normal course would be to say that that is an action 

 that is more appropriate for the State to take. But, certainly, in 

 those situations, in which States ask us to help them enforce their 

 injurious wildlife laws or laws that prohibit import to a State of 

 certain wildlife, we would be amenable to providing assistance. 



Senator Akaka. In a December 1993 letter to one of my constitu- 

 ents, the Deputy Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Mr. 

 Richard Smith, stated that the Service supports a stringent inspec- 



