Price tag on managing invasive species: $6 million a year

The first analysis of the economic effects of invasive species in Alaska finds that governments and nonprofit groups spent about $29 million from 2007 to 2011, or nearly $6 million a year, to manage those species. Tobias Schwörer of UAA's Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and Rebekka Federer and Howard Ferren of the Alaska SeaLife Center did the analysis based on a survey of public and private organizations that deal with invasive species around the state. The research was funded by several federal and state agencies.

Invasive species are non-native plants and animals-introduced accidentally or intentionally-that crowd out local species, damaging the environment and causing economic losses. Scientists say the problem is at an early stage in Alaska, compared with what has happened in other places, but the number of invasive species is growing-and they are spreading into more areas.

The new analysis finds:

• The federal government put up most of the money-nearly 85 percent-for managing invasive species in the study period. Nonprofits contributed about 9 percent and the state government 5 percent.

• More than a quarter of the total spending from 2007 to 2011-$8M-was for eradicating Norway rats on an Aleutian Island and northern pike in lakes in Southcentral Alaska. Roughly $1.5M went for eradicating or containing several of the most invasive plants, including white sweetclover and knotweed. About $700,000 went for monitoring the European green crab, which is approaching the coast of Southeast Alaska and threatens the commercial fisheries.

• About a third of the annual spending-nearly $2M-was for eradicating and controlling species already here and preventing others from reaching Alaska. Another $1.2M annually went for monitoring species scientists fear are finding their way here, and $1.4M for research, primarily at the Agricultural Research Station in Fairbanks. About $500,000 a year went for educating Alaskans about the dangers invasive species pose.

Click here to see the full publication (PDF, 2.1MB), Managing Invasive Species in Alaska: How Much Do We Spend?  If you have questions, get in touch with Tobias Schwörer at tschwoerer@alaska.edu.