Army and DoD Focus in Managing the Spread of Invasive Species.

The Invasive Species Executive Order (13112) has been interpreted in different ways by different agencies. Those with largely U.S. activities assumed that it applied to those activities. The U.S. Forest Service, for example, some time ago implemented the requirement to wash vehicles entering and leaving forest fire management areas. They also developed a prototype portable vehicle washing system to perform these tasks. The Army and Marine Corps, however, likely sensitized by several issues relating to equipment used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, has emphasized the need to clean vehicles being retrograded from overseas. While these concerns were clearly the more critical ones, this has left the Army and DoD without clear policy or guidance as it relates to the risks and preventive measures appropriate for preventing the spread of invasive species from place to place within the continental United States. It is clear that there is some risk present when vehicles, containers, and especially construction equipment are transported form place to place, even within one installation. Contractors may bring equipment that was last used hundreds of miles distant, and in an unknown setting. National Guard and Army Reserve components may often train at several locations in a year, and regular Army units may conduct joint exercises at other installations or on National Forest or BLM lands as well. ERDC and Montana State University have cooperated with the Forest Service to examine just how many seeds of potentially invasive species are actually carried on vehicles which have been operated off road. This will allow us to quantify these risks. For example, we find that existing vehicle cleaning using field-portable equipment removes no more than 90% of the soil on a vehicle. This clearly reduces risk of transport from place to place, but does not eliminate it.