The Governor’s Invasive Species Council is in the process of developing an aquatic invasive species management plan and is again asking for input into shaping the potential contents of the plan, according to Sarah N. Whitney, Chair of the Council’s AIS Management Plan Committee.

The goal of the plan is to minimize the harmful ecological, economic and human health impacts of AIS through the prevention and management of their introduction, expansion and dispersal into, within and from Pennsylvania.

One component of the AISMP will be a section of management actions to address the most immediate and pressing problems. The Council is seeking input to help identify prioritize the specific strategies and tasks that will make up this section.

Proposed action items were developed based on input during the first round of development and are available online. Specifically, the Council wants suggested rankings based on this procedure:

1) Each reviewer has 100 imaginary points. Allocate these points among all of the tasks as you see appropriate to best address AIS issues in Pennsylvania. You may give all of your percentage points to one task, give 1 point each to 100 tasks, give 50 points to two tasks, or some combination in between.

2) List the five strategies that you feel MUST be addressed to accomplish the AIS management plan’s goal.

3) Indicate what percent of funding you would ideally allocate to each category (totaling 100 percent).

Please submit your prioritization to Sarah Whitney, who is with the Pennsylvania Sea Grant Program, by email to: swhitney@psu.edu or call 610-304-8753 by September 14.

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