Christopher Evans
Cooperative weed management areas have long been an effective approach to invasive species management in the western United States. In the eastern part of the country, however, CWMAs face a different set of challenges, including more complex patterns of political and ownership boundaries. The CWMA approach here is new, and its effectiveness in the landscape is still largely unknown. In 2006, the steering committee of the River to River CWMA developed a list of measures to track the effectiveness of the CWMA in reaching its stated objectives. In 2007 a full-time coordinator was hired, and the measures were tracked throughout the coordinator‘s first year. Some of the objectives worked well as measurements, while others proved more difficult than expected. Tracking and evaluating measures of success has allowed the CWMA to gain more realistic expectations of the potential of the CWMA, evaluate the effectiveness of using a hired coordinator, adapt management approaches to better address all objectives, and better demonstrate and quantify the achievements of the CWMA. Other CWMAs in the East should be able to profit from the experience of the River to River CWMA in developing their own objectives, strategic plans, and measures of success.
Keywords: INVASIVE SPECIES, COOPERATIVE WEED MANAGEMENT AREAS, ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
