What is this Project?
By combining the strength of multi-disciplinary research and community outreach, this project's goals are to to evaluate and promote low-cost, community-based approaches to management of invasive plants.
Our research is designed to answer key economic and social questions related to the development of
collaborative stewardship for weed management. See our reports below.
All community outreach or Extension activities will build on the research results to customize
programs to the constituencies, policy contexts, and invasive plant threats affecting rangelands and
forests in the southwestern United States.
Our Goals:
- Raise public awareness of the economic and ecological threats of invasive species in the Southwest.
- Organize citizens to participate in invasive species monitoring, control and prevention efforts.
- Strengthen the institutional infrastructure for invasive species management in the Southwest.
Our research will center in three areas:
- an economic analysis of the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of a community-based approach;
- a social-psychological analysis of citizens' knowledge, attitudes and willingness to participate in invasive plant management; and
- a socio-cultural analysis of community-based citizens' groups' involved in invasive plant management, including the role of existing collaborative stewardship efforts.
Our community outreach or Extension activities will:
- create state-of-the-art informational technologies;
- recruit, organize and train community groups in early-intervention strategies for weed invasions; and
- strengthen coordination efforts among agencies having responsibilities for addressing invasive species problems
Our AES Report:
|
