Communicating about terrestrial invasive species; can we “Stop Terrestrial Hitchhikers”?

March 6, 2013, 1-3PM via LiveMeeting and conference call

Archived materials will be available on invasivespeciesinfo.gov. Link to be provided once this has been completed.

Session Objectives:

The national campaign to “Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers” has created a unified message and recognizable logo that has been picked up by state and local partners. There have been many advantages including a consistent prevention message for boaters and anglers. There are several individual messages focused on terrestrial pathways including “Don’t Move Firewood” and quarantine pests “Don’t Pack a Pest” but is there a general alternative that could be more broadly applied? Minnesota’s recently developed “PlayCleanGo” and several other state efforts will be presented and a discussion will follow on the level of interest in finding an equivalent message to “Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers” and the next steps to get this message out.

Meeting summary:

Overview of existing outreach campaigns: slogan, audience, scope, and efficacy

Two efforts were highlighted during the March 6 discussion.

Laura Van Riper “PlayCleanGo!”

This message is targeted primarily at outdoor enthusiasts who may not understand their role in moving invasive species and likely engage in several activities such as ATV trail use and camping. The message is positive, action oriented, and can be focused easily without losing the intent as in “BikeCleanGo”. It was developed with startup funds from the US Forest Service.

Audience: Outdoor recreationalists and workers

Message: Prevent the spread of invasive species

Scope: Minnesota, but customizable to anywhere

Greg Rosenthal “Leave Hungry Pests Behind!”

This campaign and website brings together more focused messages such as Save Our Citrus, Stop the Beetle, Beetle Busters, and others. The website provides images, video clips, templates, articles, and other resources designed to provide partners with tools to share the messages with local audiences. It has been rolled out primarily as a web effort but in April, 2013, USDA is promoting Plant Pest and Disease Month and there will be an increased focus on this campaign.

Audience: Very broad, anyone moving plant material or material that harbors plant pests.

Message: Prevent plant pests and diseases.

Scope:Nationwide.

Feasibility of a shared message, audiences and scope?

Generally, more discussion is needed to clarify how the scope and audiences of existing messages have been developed and tested. It may simply not be possible to have one message for an issue as diverse as invasive species but there is also a good opportunity to develop a focused message that could increase awareness and compliance with basic prevention steps across the US (or North America!).

From the federal partners perspective…

Greg Rosenthal noted that from the APHIS perspective, sharing messages and providing templates and materials that could be used by partners for local audiences was a goal of the campaign. Cross promotion of messages is welcome but the funding for Leave Hungry Pests Behind is specific to the Farm Bill Section 10-201 and is tied to plant pests.

Amy Krause and Gina Ramos with BML noted that there are existing messages used by BLM for the public lands that they manage and due to the lack of single points of entry for most of the lands that they work with a “know before you go” web presence and method of contacting visitors may work best. Similar messages to PlayCleanGo including “Spread the Word Not the Weed” and “Stop the Invasion” are in use now and they’d be open to coordinating on shared messages for recreational audiences.

Next steps and future communication needs.

There are several other messages that have been developed for a national audience including “Plant Wise” & “Don’t Plant a Pest!”, “Weeds Won’t Wait!”, “Buy It Where You Burn It”, and others that are worth discussing in the context of determining the feasible audience and scope for a message and audience for a general invasive species message. Having additional discussions including these messages as examples will help focus in on what a nationwide invasive species message could effectively cover.

Bonnie Harper-Lore has offered to use the Invasive Species Advisory Committee as a forum for continuing this discussion. As bad weather kept many from participating today, a second webinar with speakers who can discuss some of the above messages will be scheduled and additional federal partners will be invited.

Resources and examples:

Definitely don’t miss the list compiled by Chris Evans via the Illinois Invasive Species Month blog:

Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!

Buy it where you burn it!

An International Workshop by EPPO/CoE/EEA/IUCN ISSG will be holding a workshop: How to communicate on pests and invasive alien plants? Oeiras (PT), 2013-10-08/10