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Florida’s new “Don’t Let It Loose” Billboard Campaign
Florida’s new “Don’t Let It Loose” Billboard Campaign is further evidence that the National Park Service and other federal and state land management agencies have finally gotten serious about public education as a tool for invasive species control. You could say this is a classic example of locking the barn door after the horse is stolen, but it’s probably better to think of it as better late than never.
Florida’s non-native species problems are worsening at a frightening pace. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Everglades in general and Everglades National Park in particular. Few protected areas on earth – and certainly none within the National Park System -- have been assaulted by so many non-natives, so dangerously, and in so short a period of time.
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One area that needs much more attention is public education. Much of the public remains poorly informed about the hazards posed by invasive species, and many people continue to add to the problem by accidentally or intentionally releasing non-native plants and exotic pets into the wild. Although heightening public awareness and understanding of invasive species problems and their prevention cannot make existing problems go away, it can at least help slow down the pace of new introductions, enlist the public’s help in dealing with existing invasive species problems, and lessen the burden of wildlife managers who must, in a manner of speaking, run faster and faster these days just to stay in place.
more at :
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com...sive-speci5148
Florida’s non-native species problems are worsening at a frightening pace. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Everglades in general and Everglades National Park in particular. Few protected areas on earth – and certainly none within the National Park System -- have been assaulted by so many non-natives, so dangerously, and in so short a period of time.
.
. Skipped text
.
One area that needs much more attention is public education. Much of the public remains poorly informed about the hazards posed by invasive species, and many people continue to add to the problem by accidentally or intentionally releasing non-native plants and exotic pets into the wild. Although heightening public awareness and understanding of invasive species problems and their prevention cannot make existing problems go away, it can at least help slow down the pace of new introductions, enlist the public’s help in dealing with existing invasive species problems, and lessen the burden of wildlife managers who must, in a manner of speaking, run faster and faster these days just to stay in place.
more at :
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com...sive-speci5148