October 29, 2004 (Washington, DC)-Yesterday in Prineville, Oregon the US Forest Service announced a new phase of its so-called “Healthy Forests Initiative” – a plan to combat invasive species on private and public lands across the country.

While we applaud the Forest Service’s efforts to address the problems associated with non-native species, we hope their efforts will focus on those species that are truly invasive, rather than on native ecosystem elements, which clearly are not posing the greatest threat to long-term forest health. The agency’s website notes, “For the Forest Service, the focus is on nonnative terrestrial and aquatic species.” However, yesterday, the agency indicated that among those on the list of species requiring attention are bark beetles and the barred owl – both of which are native to North American ecosystems.

The definition of an invasive species is one that is non-native to the ecosystem and whose introduction causes, or is likely to cause, economic or environmental harm or poses a threat to human health.

The Forest Service should not be dedicating scarce resources to species that are native to our forests, when they could be focused more on those species that are the truly non-native and the most threatening.

Moreover, any invasive species initiative in the Forest Service must address the fact that logging and roadbuilding often facilitate invasion. One of the Bush Administration’s key proposals – a plan to reverse the Roadless Area Conservation Rule – would negatively impact any efforts to control the spread of invasive species according to a recent letter, written in opposition to the Administration’s proposed dismantling of the Rule and signed by over 100 scientists.

Invasive species are a real problem for the health of our forests, but the Forest Service’s efforts seem misplaced. We need to be focusing more on prevention and curtailing the spread of true invasive species.