Monitoring Monday - Invasive Species
Join us Mondays as the Clean Water Team shares information and resources on watersheds and water quality monitoring. Let's take a look at invasive species apps.on this Monitoring Monday which is the first day of National Invasive Species Awareness Week.
Invasive species threaten the diversity or abundance of native species through competition for resources, predation, parasitism, interbreeding with native populations, transmitting diseases, or causing physical or chemical changes to the invaded habitat. Through their impacts on natural ecosystems, agricultural and other developed lands, water delivery and flood protection systems, invasive species may also negatively affect human health and/or the economy. https://www.fws.gov/program/invasive-species
The environmental damage in the United States is estimated at $120 billion to $137 billion per year. Experts estimate that invasive plants alone cost California $82 million every year; they also increase wildfire potential, reduce water resources, and threaten wildlife. The economic and environmental impacts are getting worse, abetted by a changing climate and a smaller world where exotic creatures can hitch a ride across the globe. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/invasive-species-program
To protect California’s waters and their beneficial uses it is important that we all act in ways which will prevent the introduction or spread of invasive species. Actions can range from not being an invasive species vector, removing and restoring habitat, invasive species prevention outreach and education, and invasive species monitoring. https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/ais/ ; https://www.fws.gov/program/invasive-species/get-involved.
Crowdsourcing can be a useful tool for the early detection of invasive species. Crowdsourcing allows the public to help to increase the volume and spatiotemporal coverage of invasive species data, identify and report invasive species before they become a bigger problem, track eradication and control efforts, document seasonal trends, and easily contribute important information for stewardship of their watershed. https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/79597/
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Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (for Invasive Species) CDFW’s Invasive Species Program enlists the help of citizen scientists in invasive species monitoring and management. For the last decade, the Department has taken public sighting reports by telephone, email, and via an online reporting link. Now, launched in conjunction with the 2020 Invasive Species Action week, the Department has an exciting new platform to reach the public and receive invasive species reports! www.eddmaps.org/
Yes, there’s an app for reporting invasive species in California! The smartphone app is called “EDDMapS” which is an abbreviation for Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System and will allow invasive species reports to be submitted from your smartphone while outdoors. On the user-friendly app, anyone can report an invasive species sighting, submit photos, provide sighting details, and document a negative survey.
EDDMapS Mobile App:
Educational Resources
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CDFW’s Citizen Science Quagga/Zebra Mussel Survey
Quagga and zebra mussels continue to threaten waterbodies throughout California. While local agencies and CDFW work to monitor many of these waters each year, the more eyes looking improves the chance an infestation would be detected, if they are present.
To contribute to the statewide effort, read and print the Quagga Mussel Survey Instructions and Data Sheet (PDF). Select any freshwater waterbody (lakes, streams, rivers, creeks) that you would like to survey and can legally access. Follow the instructions on selecting areas to survey and what data to collect, including geographic coordinates and photographs if possible. Didn't find any quagga or zebra mussels? That's very important information to report to us too! Did you observe other invasive species during your survey? Tell us about those too! When your data sheets are complete submit them to our Online Submission Form.
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Report A Pest - A Free Mobile Application for Californians
Have you seen a new or unusual plant or pest in your area? If so, you can play an important role in protecting California agriculture and your environment by reporting the sighting of a plant or pest that you suspect may be a new invasive species in your area.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has released this free, easy to use mobile application, Report A Pest. The app provides the ability to photograph, and report suspected harmful pests to state and local agricultural officials. Using camera and GPS technology, the app provides CDFA invasive species specialists with valuable sighting information.
The mobile app is connected to our Report a Pest database where an invasive species specialist can identify and return a contact back to the citizen. Owners of iPads and iPhones can choose to use GPS coordinates to show the location of the find, allowing the department to respond quickly to invasive pest emergencies.
You can also Report a Pest using the Report a Pest Sighting Form either electronically or in hard copies. You can also report a pest by calling the CDFA Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.
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Contribute to Invasive Plant Mapping & Prioritization
Mapping invasive plant populations is critical for strategic management and monitoring. It is also essential for effective early detection. Knowing where a plant currently grows is the foundation for knowing where to survey for new occurrences. Help the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) and Calflora protect our wildlands by entering your invasive plant data.
Cal-IPC supports a range of mapping tools for natural resource managers in California, including CalWeedMapper, WHIPPET and Calflora. These tools work together.
Calflora is an online database of plant observations. Whether you have a single invasive plant observation or an entire GIS dataset, your data belongs in Calflora, where you can use this data in various powerful ways.
Data submitted to the Calflora occurrence database provides a foundation for CalWeedMapper (for setting regional priorities) and WHIPPET (for setting population-level priorities). Land managers are encouraged to submit their management records once a year, and early-detection observations immediately. https://www.cal-ipc.org/solutions/mapping/
Enter individual plant occurrences. Go to www.calflora.org/entry/poe.html . As a new user, choose Organizationà Independent and Project à Advanced Data collection. Asterisk (*)fields are required, other fields are optional. Explanations for each field can be found by clicking field name. After data entry is complete, click the Save button on the top of the screen. Under the Save button is an option to publish the record which makes it viewable to other Calflora users. Unpublished records can only be viewed by the person who entered them. We encourage publishing your data and sharing all data.
Submit field observations via smartphone. Using our phone-based reporting application, you can collect occurrence data with GPS points and photos, transmit them wirelessly to the Calflora database, and view and manage using your private MyObservations page. Download an app for Android from http://www.calflora.org/phone/ or search “Observer” at the App Store for an iPhone.
Submit geo-tagged photos. Use your photographs as a basis for new plant occurrence reports. Go to www.calflora.org/cgibin/geophoto_upload.cgi to upload and attribute photos. Location information will automatically be added for geo-tagged photos taken with GPS cameras.
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National Invasive Species Awareness Week (February 26 – March, 2024)
NISAW is an international event to raise awareness about invasive species, the threat that they pose, and what can be done to prevent their spread. NISAW is powered by The North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA), which supports local, state, tribal, federal, regional, and national organizations to make NISAW their own with these tools:
Educational Invasive Species Webinars
NAISMA hosts educational webinars on priority invasive species issues the week of NISAW and the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Other organizations may host webinars also. The 2024 NISAW webinar series is listed below. Get more information and register on the NISAW events page.
- Monday, February 26, 2024 – Annual USGS Invasive Species Research Forum: Better Living Through Modern Invasion Science
- Tuesday, February 27-28, 2024 – The Invasive Species Language Workshop
- Wednesday, February 28, 2024 – The Federal Interagency Committee on the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds
- Thursday, February 29, 2024 – Opportunities and Challenges for Preventing the Next Plant Invasion
- Friday, March 1, 2024 – Protecting North American Biodiversity from Invasive Species
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California Invasive Species Action Week (Saturday, June 1 - Sunday, June 9, 2024)
The next California Invasive Species Action Week (CISAW) will be in June 2024. Visit the CISAW page for a schedule of events around the state and links to activities you can do all year long.
The goals of the California Invasive Species Action Week (CISAW) are to increase public awareness of invasive species issues and promote public participation in the fight against California's invasive species and their impacts on our natural resources.
Eye on Invasives is CDFW's newsletter dedicated to providing the public with new and important information about invasive species in California.
We hope you enjoy reading the issues and learn something new and interesting about California’s invasive species. We encourage you to share the newsletters and this web page with others who may be interested in learning about California's invasive species and their impacts. https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives/Newsletter
Aquatic Invasive Species Identification Poster The Invasive Species Program has developed an outreach poster to aid in the identification of six invasive species that threaten California's freshwater environments. View the poster (PDF)(opens in new tab), or look for it on display in a CDFW office or hatchery. Would you like a copy of the poster to display? Contact us at Invasives@wildlife.ca.gov to request one.
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