The Vice President directed the Secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce, in consultation with CEQ and OSTP, to look at the issue of invasive alien species across the board. An interagency task force has developed a draft action plan that now encompasses animals, plants and other viable biological materials that could contribute to alien invasions. After several meetings, some with over 100 agency representatives, it became clear last fall that not only did we need to involve people outside of federal government, we needed to launch a directive from the President addressing some of the fundamental elements of the strategy. We need to create a forum for planning and coordination that would fully involve government and the private sector. We turned our attention from a 25 page draft document, to a directive.
Education is a key element.
International cooperation is as well. There are treaties on many other issues, but not on invasive alien species. This would help direct the prevention and control of the spread of invasions into ecosystems. The national council would consist of the Secretaries of Interior, Agriculture and Commerce. The expectation is that the heads of subcabinet agencies may also be named, such as BLM, Park Service, FWS and Forest Service.