U.S. Invasive Species Research Program: request for proposals

The ERS Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM) is pleased to announce a second round of competitive grants and cooperative agreements.

The PREISM program, now in its second year, is soliciting research proposals in three broad topic areas:
(1) stakeholders and incentives for efficient invasive species program management;
(2) practical decision tools for invasive species management; and
(3) trade and invasive species. Proposals should focus on economic research and/or decision support system development with direct implications for USDA policies and programs that address protection from, control or management of, regulation concerning, or trade policy relating to invasive species.

Competitive funding in fiscal year 2004 is expected to be about $1.2 million. For more information on PREISM and the 2004 competitive grants and cooperative agreements program, visit the ERS Briefing Room on Invasive Species Management.

Allocating resources to manage invasive species and pests

As part of ERS’s research program on the economics of invasive species, ERS and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are developing a methodology for allocating resources to manage invasive species and pests. The effects of invasive species on production, trade, and the environment differ across species. A single methodology for ranking agricultural pests according to different effects will help policymakers to allocate resources in a consistent and transparent manner.

A recent workshop with APHIS’s Center for Plant Health Science and Technology was one step in the process of constructing a methodology.