The Extensive and Costly Damage They Cause

·         Many of these pests and diseases have seriously harmed industry and urban and rural landscapes and have caused billions of dollars in lost revenue and control costs.

·         Some scientists estimate that the economic impacts from invasive species exceed $1 billion annually in the United States.  That’s in addition to the damage they cause to hundreds of millions of acres of native ecosystems and associated native plants and animals.

·         These pests grow and spread rapidly.  They disrupt the areas they invade by:

o   Damaging crops;

o   Killing community and forest trees;

o   Pushing out native species;

o    Reducing biological diversity;

o   Placing other species at increased risk of extinction;

o   Altering wildfire intensity and frequency;

o   Closing foreign markets to U.S. products from infested areas; and,

o   Costing millions of dollars in treatments to industry and government.