Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge
Comprehensive Conservation Plan
fertilization, liming, and weed-free mulching as necessary. The refuge staff would use
native material, where appropriate and feasible. The refuge staff would use certified
weed-free or weed-seed-free hay or straw where certified materials are reasonably
available.
o The refuge staff would provide information, training and appropriate pest identification
materials to refuge staffs, permit holders, and recreational visitors. The refuge staff
would educate them about pest identification, biology, impacts, and effective prevention
measures.
o The refuge staff would inspect borrowed material for invasive plants prior to use and
transport onto and/or within refuge lands.
o The refuge staff would consider invasive plants in planning for road maintenance
activities.
o The refuge staff would restrict off road travel to designated routes.
o In order to confine potential weed introductions to frequently monitored areas, visitors
will restrict their activities to roads and established trails whenever possible.
o Permittees and visitors will implement precautions to prevent the introduction of alien
plants and arthropods to the Refuge. Vehicles, boots, clothing, day packs, photographic
gear and equipment must be cleaned and inspected for seeds, insects, eggs, larvae, etc.
prior to entry.
o All researchers and assistants must have and use Refuge-dedicated rain gear, packs and
boots. This equipment is to be used and stored only at the Refuge.
These prevention methods to minimize/eliminate the introduction and/or spread of pests were
taken verbatim or slightly modified from Appendix E of US Forest Service (2005).
• Mechanical/Physical Methods. These methods would remove and destroy, disrupt the growth
of, or interfere with the reproduction of pest species. For plants species, these treatments can be
accomplished by hand, hand tool (manual), or power tools (mechanical) and include pulling,
grubbing, digging, tilling/disking, cutting, swathing, grinding, sheering, girdling, mowing, and
mulching of the pest plants.
For animal species, Service employees or their authorized agents could use mechanical/physical
methods (including trapping) to control pests as a refuge management activity. Based upon 50
CFR 31.2, trapping can be used on a refuge to reduce surplus wildlife populations for a “balanced
conservation program” in accordance with Federal or state laws and regulations. In some cases,
non-lethally trapped animals would be relocated to off-refuge sites with prior approval from the
state.
Each of these tools would be efficacious to some degree and applicable to specific situations. In
general, mechanical controls can effectively control annual and biennial pest plants. However, to
control perennial plants, the root system has to be destroyed or it would resprout and continue to
grow and develop. Mechanical controls are typically not capable of destroying a perennial
plant’s root system. Although some mechanical tools (e.g., disking, plowing) may damage root
systems, they may stimulate regrowth producing a denser plant population that may aid in the
spread depending upon the target species. In addition, steep terrain and soil conditions would be
major factors that can limit the use of many mechanical control methods.
Appendix G. Integrated Pest Management G-5