Executive Order on Invasive Species Release No. 0044.99 Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary Dan Glickman Executive Order on Invasive Species National Geographic Society -- February 3, 1999 Thank you Gil and thank you for hosting today's event. Secretary Babbitt, I want to thank you for your leadership on this issue. I want everyone here to know that I have a laundry list of accolades that describe my estimable colleague and leader of the Interior Department ... and if I had more time I'd tell them to you. With me today from USDA are my Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Rich Rominger who as a farmer himself is deeply engaged on this issue. Also with me are Isi Siddiqui, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and Keith Pitts, Deb Hays and Rebbeca Bech [BESH]. They and their staffs have done a terrific job on this issue and I thank them for all their hard work. I also want to welcome John Tarburton, Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Delaware. John and his team have taken a very aggressive role in battling everything from fire ants to phragmites to the mile-a-minute weed. John, I thank you for being here and for all the work you and your folks do everyday to battle this problem. I too want to thank E.O Wilson for that eye-opening presentation. The work that you and many of the folks here today do, illustrate the fact that this problem is not, as has often been said, creeping up on us. It is in the here and now and affecting all of us whether we know it or not. You know I find it ironic that I am standing up here talking to you about invasive species when you are the experts. It reminds me of a joke about two dairy cows... kinda makes you feel inadequate. I have great respect for the visionary spirit and drive of the people here today who are working so hard to get ahead of this problem. Unfortunately, when the average person hears the term 'invasive species,' often times they conjure up images of Star Trek-like aliens, or monsters from 1950s B-movies, or in some more unkind images, a visit from the in-laws. But the truth is, like most problems, invasive species, isn't really perceived as a problem until it hits home. Invasive plants can't compete for headlines with media attention-getters like forest fires, floods and tornadoes. But they actually surpass nature's spectacles as the most widespread and devastating threat to the health and productivity of both public and private lands. For every acre lost to forest fires, two were lost to weeds in 1995. When you think about bugs and plants and diseases invading our homes, businesses, water supply, fruits and vegetables, pipelines, electrical utilities and more ... I think the message is clear: There is an invasion under way. Today's presentations demonstrate the scope of the problem. Going beyond the very telling $123 billion in economic damage is how this menace ruins lives. With us today is a man who's met the enemy head-on. As part of growing up in Montana, Tom Hoff learned all about leafy-spurge. It spread wildly through ranchlands, stunting grass growth until there was nothing left for the cows. Tom watched friends and neighbors lose their ranches, their livelihoods. Eighteen years ago, Tom left his leafy-spurge infested ranch and moved to Nebraska. At the time, there was some leafy-spurge in Nebraska but he found that most folks in the area didn't know what a menace it could be. By 1987 Tom and some other folks formed a state task force to deal with the problem and raise awareness among ranchers. Today, Tom is now fighting leafy- spurge on his own ranch but is keeping it closely monitored and treated and hopes that it's under control. Tom would you stand up? Tom is going home tomorrow, and -- with a boost from President Clinton's Executive Order he will attend a meeting of over 350 people to deal with this problem. I don't have to tell you getting this many people together in Nebraska in early February suggests that people are beginning to realize the gravity of the problem. Thanks for being here today Tom and thanks for all your pioneering efforts. Another gentleman in the audience will tell you plainly that as weeds increase, incomes and land values decrease and with that the economic health of many rural communities. Charles Weiser ought to know. He's a banker who lends to farmers and ranchers and he can tell you how tough it is financially on farmers to have to battle these invaders. Charles thank you for coming and thank you for bringing to the forefront how invasive species attack the bottom line. So the problem is very real affecting lives, livelihoods and whole communities. The Executive Order establishes an advisory committee that will be instrumental to the Invasive Species Council in developing a strong management plan acceptable to all interested parties. The committee will be made up of people outside the federal government -- academia, local and tribal governments, scientists, trade groups, the private sector, environmental groups and of course farmers and ranchers. This is a problem that has clear implications for the nation's food supply and America's farm communities so it is extremely important that agriculture have a prominent seat at the table. Today's announcement will allow us to build on, and share with other agencies the many programs underway at USDA. On Monday I announced our budget requests for 2000 which includes over a $16 million increase in USDA programs to combat invasive species Just yesterday, working with local officials, we began cutting down trees in Chicago. I'm not one to champion the removing of any more green from urban areas but these trees were infected by the Asian long-horn beetle. And this bug has no known predators and there are no treatment methods we know of that are effective. Unfortunately, that means destroying infested trees is the only way we've got to get rid of these pests. And, that's a real tragedy. I know some folks who would just as soon take a wrecking ball to their living room, as uproot a favorite old tree. But if you understand how these beetles live, and feed on a tree at every stage of their life, you know that once the beetles settle in, that tree's days are numbered. So the focus then, has to shift to protecting other healthy trees. But the first line of defense is at our borders. At every entry port harbors, airports, border crossings we inspect airline passengers and crew, check luggage, intercept plants, poultry and meat products, and that's just the dogs more famously known as the Beagle Brigade. But I don't want to take anything away from our hard-working inspectors who in 1996 inspected over 66 million passengers, turned back over 48,000 pests and over 1.5 million plants and checked out thousands of ships and aircrafts. One of our strongest weapons against these invaders is science and technology. Our researchers continue to look for natural enemies for weeds and other species. Recently we began distributing a weevil -- unlike the Asian long-horned beetle it's one of the good bugs. Imported from Australia it is the natural predator of the tree that's eating the everglades, the Melaleuca . We've also found, and are using, a looper -- I've never seen one personally but my staff informs me it's like a caterpillar -- anyway it eats Kudzu, also known as the 'vine that ate the south.' Recently we established the Exotic and Invasive Weed Research Unit that is aggressively focusing our research dollars where it will do the most good. As part of our containment efforts, we're also looking at regulations that would restrict the transportation of invasive species across state lines. And in addition to managing 191 million acres of federal lands our folks in the Forest Service provide technical assistance to private land owners. These and other activities not least among them our work with farmers and ranchers will form the basis of our involvement with other agencies in beating back the invasion. Last summer I was in Hawaii talking about this very issue and witnessed first hand how, because of the joint efforts of the people there, the area I was visiting was free of the fast growing Miconia -- also known as the 'green cancer'. While there, I learned a Hawaiian phrase : "A 'ohe hana nui ke alu 'ia "No task is too big when done together by all." I think that embodies the spirit and intent of the President's Executive Order on Invasive Species. Not only are we recognizing the problem, but we are coming together to do something about it. Again, I want to thank everyone here today for all you are doing to combat invasive species. Thank you. #