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risk assessments would provide us with the necessary information to determine if 

 a specific weed is harmful. Research and development could provide for devitalizing 

 or seed cleaning technology. These treatment alternatives could be used to rid prod- 

 ucts of weed contaminants. A large number of invasive weeds already plague mil- 

 lions of acres of public land throughout the United States and cause billions of dol- 

 lars in damage. Funds could be used to eradicate some infestation of new invasive 

 weed species recently discovered and prevent their dissemination to other parts of 

 the United States. Also, we believe AFHIS' proposed legislative package that con- 

 solidates and streamlines its plant quarantine laws will clarify and enhance APHIS' 

 authority in a nimiber of important ways in relation to noxious weeds. 



APHIS is building a national infrastructure for monitoring and surveillance for 

 both plants and animeds. We are consolidating some line items into this function. 

 Exotic, endemic, and emerging diseases, pests, and organisms will be detected by 

 this system. Coordinated responses with States and other Federal agencies based 

 on this surveillance system must be implemented based on this data. 



Section 15 of the Federal Noxious Weed Act already provides sufficient direction 

 to the Federal land management agencies for the prevention and control of noxious 

 weeds. Section 1453 of the 1990 Farm Bill requires the Secretaries of Agriculture 

 and the Interior to coordinate noxious weed activities for Federal land management 

 agencies. A result of this coordination effort will be the establishment of a Federal 

 inter-departmental committee on management of noxious weeds. The committee will 

 include agencies from the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Defense, and Trans- 

 portation. 



The Forest Service is also making administrative changes in its noxious weed reg- 

 ulations. The current noxious weed policy was published in the Federal Register in 

 December 1993 to receive public comments. After analyzing these coniments, a final 

 policy will be issued that will reflect an ecological approach to noxious weed man- 

 agement. 



The Administration's budget proposal for the Forest Service in fiscal year 1995 

 includes a 25 percent increase to $2.8 million in noxious weed control over the fiscal 

 year 1994 buoget. The Forest Service plans to use this increase in funding to initi- 

 ate efforts to bring noxious weed infestations to acceptable levels. To do this, the 

 Forest Service will be conducting more weed control activities, including surveys 

 and contracting with county weed control districts. 



In addition, there is $15 million in emergency pest suppression funds available 

 fi'om the fiscal year 1994 appropriations to meet the needs m excess of the amoimts 

 appropriated ($12.9 million) for Forest Pest Management Federal and Cooperative 

 Lands Prevention and Suppression. 



These funding increases for fiscal year 1995 reflect the Department of Agri- 

 culture's concern for noxious weed control and other exotic pests. 



Finally, the Congress could direct Forest Service research to focus on providing 

 new and more effective biological controls and a better understanding of ecological 

 amplitudes and long-term effects of exotic species. 



8. The OTA reports, "Federal methods and programs to identify risks of poten- 

 tially harmful alien species have many shortcomings — including long response 

 times. Procedures vsiry in stringency throughout APHIS, risks to nonagricultural 

 areas are often ignored, and generally, new imports are presumed safe unless prov- 

 en otherwise." 



Question. Do you agree with this assessment? 



APHIS' authority for regulating non-indigenous species has been limited to pests 

 of plants. We have developed an expanded weed policy and are drafting non-indige- 

 nous species regulations within the framework of our current authorities. The pro- 

 posed Consolidated Statutes should be a mechanism for Congress to expand APHIS' 

 authority beyond the current limitations. 



9. Preventing new introductions is oflen touted as the best line of defense against 

 alien pests. However, aiming for a standard of "zero entry" has limited returns, es- 



f)ecially when prevention efforts come at the expense of rapid response or essential 

 ong-term control. 



Question. How will APHIS address current port inspection and quarantine meth- 

 ods to better counteract this invasion threat? 



APHIS is currently evaluating pathways that could allow the introduction of Med- 

 iterranean fruit fly into the continental United States. Surveys are in progress for 

 airline passenger baggage, international mail, and Federal Express. Additional sur- 

 veys of maritime cargo, air cargo, passengers, and freight crossing the Canadian 

 border are expected to begin in June 1994. These surveys involve intensive sampling 

 of each pathway to develop statistically valid measures of risk associated with each 

 pathway. The results of these surveys will be used to better focus inspection and 

 quarantine methods currently used by Plant Protection and Quarantine. APHIS also 



