FL-PRISM Mission Statement
The Mission of the Finger Lakes Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management is to reduce the spread and impact of invasive species through coordinated prevention, detection, and control measures within the PRISM's member counties (Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Tompkins, Tioga, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates).
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Background
Hundreds of non-native organisms have been introduced into New York State by natural and human-mediated mechanisms. Other species have been introduced through such natural means as interbasin flooding and by swimming, walking or flying from one ecosystem to another. These species run the gamut from plants, such as purple loosestrife and poison hemlock, to animals such as mute swans, and zebra mussels, to insects such as the sirex wood wasp, to pathogens, such as West Nile Virus and chronic wasting disease, which impact native and non-native organisms alike. These invasive species have caused dramatic changes to New York's ecosystems.These organisms are referred to by many names: invasive species, non-native or nonindigenous species, aquatic nuisance species, and exotic species. On this website, we use “nonindigenous” and “non-native” synonymously, as those species that have been transported by human activities – intentionally or unintentionally – into a region in which they did not occur in historical time and that are now reproducing in the wild. We use the term “invasive species” as meaning “. . . an alien [non-native] species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health”. This is the definition used at the US federal level and adopted by NY State [Ex. Order 13112, Pres. William Clinton.]. Non-native is not synonymous with invasive, the latter involving an element of harm not necessarily implied in the former. To be included in this website, a non-native species must be reproducing in self-sustaining populations in their new environment. It should be noted that many non-native species have beneficial impacts on our society and are not invasive. This would include many agricultural crops and most domestic livestock and pets. The national Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC) developed a white paper for the National Invasive Species Council (NISC) further refining and explaining the definition of what is and what isn't an invasive species.
