Harmful non-indigenous species in the U.S. : hearings before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, second session, March 11 and 15, 1994

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee On Governmental Affairs

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• Species
• United States

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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S. Hrg. 103-602
HARMFUL NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE U.S.
103-60274/9; S. HRG.Y 4. G
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HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MARCH 11 AND 15, 1994
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
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GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEU.S.
WASHINGTON : 199477-«12cc
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent ofDocuments, Congressional Sales Office, Washington,DC 20402
0-16-044587-6ISBN' S. Hrg. 103-602
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^ HARMFUL NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE U.S.
103-602B. HRG.74/9:Y 4. G
in t.Kon-Indigenous SpeciesHarnful
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MARCH 11 AND 15, 1994
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
SEP it^ci,Q
.>7-fji»..
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEU.S.
WASHINGTON : 199477-S12CC
For sale by the GovernmentU.S. Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Washington, 20402Sales Office, DC
0-16-044587-6ISBNCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOHN GLENN, Ohio, Chairman
SAM NUNN, Georgia WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TED STEVENS, Alaska
JIM SASSER, Tennessee S. COHEN, Maine
DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
ROBERT F. BENNETT, UtahDANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
DirectorLeonard Weiss, Staff
Kerry Taylor, Professional Staff
Franklin Polk, Minority Director and CounselG. Staff Chief
Michal Sue Prosser, Chief Clerk
(II)CONTENTS
Opening statements: Page
Senator Akaka 351,
'
Senator Glenn 37
Prepared statement:
Senator Lieberman 5
WITNESSES
FRroAY, March 11, 1994
Dewey M. Caron, Ph.D., Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology
and Applied Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 3
Don C. Schmitz, Wetland and Upland Forest Alien Plant Coordinator, Florida
Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, FL 6
Howard M. Singletary, Jr., Director, Plant Industry Division, North Carolina ofAgriculture, Raleigh, NC 8
James T. Carlton, Ph.D., Director, Maritime Studies Program, Williams Col-
lege-Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT 11
Faith Thompson Campbell, Ph.D., Natural Resources Defense Council, Wash-
ington, DC 21
Deborah B. Jensen, Ph.D., The Nature Conservancy, ArUngton, VA 23
Tuesday, March 15, 1994
Phyllis N. Windle, Senior Associate, Office of Technology Assessment, Wash-
ington, DC, accompanied by Elizabeth Chomesky, Senior Analyst, Office
ofTechnology Assessment, Washington, DC 41
Robert Davison, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
U.S. Department of the Interior 47
Katharine W. Kimball, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmos-
phere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department
ofCommerce 50
B. Glen Lee, Deputy Administrator, Plant Protection and Quarantine, U.S.
Department ofAgriculture 52
William L. McCleese, Acting Associate Deputy Chief, Forest Service, U.S.
Department of 55
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Campbell, Faith Thompson:
Testimony 21
Prepared statement 78
Carlton, James T.:
Testimony H
Prepared statement 76
Caron, Dewey M.:
Testimony 3
Prepared statement 69
Davison, Robert:
Testimony 47
Prepared statement 100
Jensen, Deborah B.:
Testimony 23
Prepared statement 87
(III)IV
Page
Kimball, Katharine W.:
Testimony 50
statement 103Prepared
Lee, B. Glen:
52Testimony
107Prepared statement
McCleese, William L.:
Testimony 55
Prepared statement 109
Schmitz, Don C:
6Testimony
73Prepared statement
Singletary, Howard M. Jr.:
Testimony 8
74Prepared statement
Windle, Phyllis N.:
. 41Testimony
95Prepared statement
APPENDIX
order ofappearance 69Prepared statements ofwitnesses in
Statements submitted for the record:
113Yukio Kitagawa
Kenneth Y. Kaneshiro, Ph.D 115
118Walter R. Courtenay, Jr., Ph.D
119Bruce E. Coblentz
121Ducks Unlimited, Inc
124U.S. Postal Service
125National Audubon Society
129Peter Vitousek
130Ms. Mary Lou McHugh
132APHIS Responses to Questions about Non-Indigenous Species
198OTA Report briefSPECIES IN THEHARMFUL NON-INDIGENOUS
STATESUNITED
FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1994
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Governmental Affairs.
Washington, DC.
Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in roomThe
SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel Akaka pre-
siding.
Presenc: Senator Akaka.
OF SENATORAKAKAOPENING STATEMENT
on Governmental Affairs will beSenator Akaka. The Committee
here today. We welcomein order. Welcome to our guest witnesses
morning!all ofyou to this hearing. Aloha £ind good
problems that alien speciesToday's hearing will focus on the
economy.pose to our Nation's agriculture, environment, and
ofThe United States is being subjected to a slow, silent invasion
alien pests. These invaders hitchhike aboard planes, lurk in old
tires, hide in household goods, and swim in the ballast of ships.
^have pie chart that helps us illustrate this point. UsingWe a
example, we can see that alien species use every con-Hawaii as an
ceivable mode of transportation to invade our State.
inherently dif-Developing loss estimates due to alien species is
forests,ficult. Studies place annual losses to U.S. agriculture,
rangeland, and fisheries in excess of $100 million. During high-im-
pact years, losses increase to several billion dollars.
Alien pests represent a serious threat to many, many areas of
economic activity. Agriculture must contend with an array of alien
significant portion of the bil-weeds, insects, and pathogens. A $7
control is applied to con-lion that farmers spend guinugdly on pest
tain alien species.
Some weeds do not directly harm agriculture, but serve as hosts
for agricultural pests instead. For example, crested wheatgrass,
which was once planted for soil conservation, harbors the Russian
wheat aphid. This million in losses during 1988pest caused $170
alone.
Chestnut plantings from China,blight, which arrived on diseased
killed over a billion chestnut trees during the early part of the cen-
tury. forAnother forest threat, the gypsy moth, was responsible
$760 million in losses during peak years.
1See page 138.
(1)Hydrilla is the scourge of Eastern waterways. This aquatic weed
blocks irrigation and drainage canals, promotes sedimentation in
control reservoirs, impedes navigation, andflood suppresses fish-
million is annuallyeries. $100 spent to control this and other
aquatic pests. Aquatic nuisances such zebra musselsas and Asiem
clams regularly clog municipal water lines and irrigation pipes.
But nowhere are the effects of alien species more dramatic than
in Hawaii. The September 1993 Office of Technology Assessment
report concluded that few economic or non-economic activities in
Hawaii are unaffected by the influx of alien pests. The Aloha State
is a case study ofwhat happens when alien pests run wild.
Hawaii receives an average of 18 new annually. This is
more than a million times the natural rate and more than twice
the number absorbed each year on the mainland. The lack of a win-
ter frost means that these uninvited guests multiply all year long.
Hawaii has no aloha for these noxious pests.
Faced with a steady invasion of alien pests, it is no wonder that
been overwhelmed. Ten percent of Ha-the State's environment has
already extinct, and about 30 percent ofwaii's plant species are
those that remgiin are threatened or endangered.
noxious pests. Be-Hawaii has become a magnet for the world's
accidental introductions, alien pests suchcause of intentional and
five species of fruit fly, andas banana poka, fire tree, army worm,
burden on our econ-a host of feral animals impose a tremendous
on and on.omy and our environment. The list goes
^ Circle askingI recently received a letter fi*om Hawaii's Outdoor
that I investigate a new threat, the ivy gourd. According to their
letter, this pest is growing out of control on the windward side of
Oahu. The list of Hawaii's alien species seems to get longer each
day.
We also have a healthy fear of pests that have yet to reach our
shores. The arrival of the brown tree snake would be an obituary
for Hawaii's native forest birds.
with native species; they dra-Alien pests do not just compete
the rules of the game bymatic£illy alter the landscape and change
liv-which native species live. As a result, we are rapidly losing our
ing heritage of plants and animals that constitute the foundation
of biological diversity.
Due to the explosive growth in commerce, tourism, and travel,
the army of invading pests is on the rise. Hawaii is a good example
of this trend. A 50 percent increase in air traffic during the 1980's
made Honolulu the 15th busiest airport in the Nation. Pests arrive
as stowaways in transportation equipment and cargo. Plants and
animals are brought in, intentionally or unintentionally, by the in-
creasing numbers of travelers.
Even ou