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Invasive Plant Management History

THE NON-NATIVE AQUATIC PLANT INVADERS

1899  An aquatic plant management program in Florida began after the 55th Congress passed the Rivers and Harbor Act Authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to crush, divert, or remove water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) from access areas of the St. Johns River.  In May, 1899, the Florida Legislature prohibits planting water hyacinth in "waters of the State of Florida."

1902   The Rivers and Harbors Act was amended to allow for the "extermination" of water hyacinth by mechanical and chemical or any other means.  Toxic sodium arsenite was used in Florida until 1905.

1931  In 1931, the State of Florida passed Chapter 1465 to allow the use of "any poisonous substance, chemical or spray in killing water hyacinths‚ providing no such poisonous substance, chemical or spray shall be used which might injure fish life or human or other animal life."

1940s  Water hyacinth control operations until the 1940s were almost exclusively conducted by mechanical means (crusher boats, saw-boats, and harvesters).  By 1948, the USACE began using 2,4-D to control water  hyacinths and as they decreased, there was an increase of 2,4-D resistant alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides).

1952  With federal funding (Dingell Johnson Federal Aid to Fisheries Fund), the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or FWC) began a limited state program controlling water hyacinth with 2,4-D.

1958  The Expanded Project for Aquatic Plant Control was approved by Congress in 1958 allowing the management of additional species not included in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899.  The states were required to provide 30% of the operating funds.

1959  The FWC was designated as the official state agency to represent Florida in aquatic plant management operations with the USACE.

1960  A USDA laboratory was established in Argentina to develop biocontrol agents for alligatorweed.  The alligatorweed flea beetle (Agasicles hygrophila) was released in Florida in the mid-1960s.  The Hyacinth Control Society (now the Aquatic Plant Management Society) was formed in 1960 so managers and researchers could identify and solve water hyacinth problems across Florida.

1969  Florida Statute 403.271 (now s369.25) passed to regulate the importation, transportation, and possession of non-native aquatic plants.

1970  Various hybrids and chromosome morphs of the Asian grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) were first used to control hydrilla in Florida by researchers beginning in 1970.  The Florida Legislature passed the Aquatic Weed Control Act in 1970 authorizing the Florida Dept. of Natural Resources (now the Dept. of Environmental Protection or DEP) to direct the control, eradication, and regulation of noxious aquatic weeds and to direct research and planning related to these activities.

1971  Base funding for aquatic plant control activities were established by the legislature using gas taxes and motor boat registration fees.

1972  The mottled water hyacinth weevil (Neochetina eichhornia) was the first insect approved for release as a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth.

1973  The concept of maintenance control was developed by the USACE in 1973 and became state policy (s369.22(3)) for water hyacinth management in 1976.

1976  Section 403.088 was amended to not require a water pollution operation permit for putting herbicides in water providing it is done under a DEP aquatic plant control permit thus avoiding dual permitting delays.  The Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society was formed in 1976 to facilitate interagency sharing of management techniques.

1978  The Center for Aquatic Weeds (now the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants), devoted to the study and management of freshwater aquatic and wetland plants, was established in 1978 at the University of Florida.

1979  The American Assembly Conference met to recommend future directions for aquatic plant management in Florida. The Aquatic, Wetland and Invasive Plant Information Retrieval System was established at the University of Florida in 1979.

1980  The authority for use of herbivorous fish for aquatic plant control was transferred from DEP to the FWC in 1980.  Also, the responsibility of contracting herbicide and mechanical aquatic plant control was transferred from the FWC to DEP.

1986  Governor declares a moratorium on herbicide use in Lake Okeechobee and recommends using mechanical harvesters in 1986.  With an increase of approximately 40 acres a day of floating invasive vegetation, the moratorium was lifted and more than $2 million and two years are needed to regain maintenance control on the lake.

1987  The first insects released in Florida as biocontrol agents for waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and hydrilla occurred in 1987.

1990  Statewide maintenance control of water hyacinth and water lettuce was achieved.

1999  Florida Forever Act passed providing ~$25 million in additional funds for invasive plant management efforts in Florida (80% for aquatic plant control and 20% for upland plant control).

2008  DEP's Bureau of Invasive Plant Management is transferred by the Florida Legislature into the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and becomes the Invasive Plant Management Section. In addition, the authority to prohibit invasive plant species (both aquatic and upland species) along with the regulation of the collection and transportation of aquatic plant species is transferred to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 

THE NON-NATIVE UPLAND PLANT INVADERS

1970s  Scientists Julia Morton (Univ. of Miami) and Dan Austin (Florida Atlantic Univ.) warn about the spread of many ornamental and fruit species into natural areas in scientific papers published in the mid-1970s.  In 1977, the Florida Legislature appropriated funds to the Florida Division of Forestry for conducting research on melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia). Results of this project were presented at the Melaleuca Symposium held in Ft. Myers in 1980.

1984 The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council was formed.

1986  A multi-agency management program was initiated in 1986 by South Florida government agencies to remove melaleuca seed sources from the East Everglades.

1988  The first Exotic Pest Plant Council Symposium was held in November, 1988, at Miami.

1990 The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council and the South Florida Water Management District jointly convene a Melaleuca Task Force that produced the first Melaleuca Management Plan in 1990.

1992  The Florida Legislature appropriated $1 million from DEP's Aquatic Plant Control Trust Fund to match funds from the South Florida Water Management District to begin melaleuca control operations in the Everglades Conservation Areas and Lake Okeechobee. Melaleuca was listed as a Federal Noxious Weed Species in 1992 and prohibited for sale or use in Florida by DEP in 1993.

1997  The Florida Legislature mandated the DEP's Bureau of Aquatic Plant Management (now the Bureau of Invasive Plant Management) to implement a pilot project to bring invasive exotic upland plant species within natural areas under maintenance control. The Legislature allocated $1 million. The first insect to control melaleuca was released in 1997 by the USDA.

1998  DEP's Bureau of Invasive Plant Management established an Upland Invasive Plant Management Section and a statewide network of eleven regional workgroups to deal with upland invasive species at a regional level.

1999  Florida Forever Act passed providing ~$25 million in additional funds for invasive plant management efforts in Florida (80% for aquatic plant control and 20% for upland plant control).

2008  DEP's Bureau of Invasive Plant Management is transferred by the Florida Legislature into the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and becomes the Invasive Plant Management Section.