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A factor that strongly infl uences citizen support for invasive plant management
strategies is their trust in the organizations responsible for implementing those
strategies. Willingness to accept a practice (e.g., herbicide application) in principle
does not necessarily imply that people believe agencies can implement it safely or
effectively. Trust in government has been declining in the USA for decades (Alford
2001 ), and that growing distrust can be directed toward public offi cials at all levels
of government. Efforts to increase public support for invasive species management
almost certainly must include activities designed to increase trust in the agencies
responsible for that management.
Furthermore, cost is an issue. Although citizens may want government to “do
more” about exotic invasive plants and in some cases have been willing to increase
their tax burden to address weed problems, as was the case in Missoula, Montana,
invasive species manageme nt must compete with many other demands for tax dol-
lars. When revenues are scarce, managers are likely to focus on species that carry
state, federal, or local designations as noxious weeds. This can negatively affect
efforts to control exotic annual grasses, as these typically are not found on noxious
weed lists, perhaps because in some places they are too ubiquitous and in other
places not all stakeholders consider them to be suffi ciently problematic.
An obvious part to the solution to this dilemma is education at all levels, from
secondary schools to universities to extension programs and fi eld schools. However,
the best education strategies are not always the easiest to implement. It may prove
easier to fi nd one-time funds for printing a brochure than to secure ongoing resources
to support efforts involving direct interaction with the public. However, educational
efforts will be most successful if they directly engage the audience through discus-
sion or, even better, active participation. The latter sort of educational activity can
be time-intensive but is more likely to pay off. Careful attention to the design of
educational strategies is important. Success in education also is likely to be greater
when there are multiple pathways to reach citizens, including both asynchronous o r
unidirectional media (websites, videos) as well as opportunities for active
engagement.
How does one surmount these barriers of cost, distrust, lack of knowledge, com-
petition for resources, and competition for public attention? The best answer may
lie with the emergence of multiparty collaborative efforts for exotic invasive plant
management. These efforts allow for cost-sharing across institutions (different lev-
els of government as well as nongovernmental organizations [NGOs]) , can leverage
funds that may not otherwise be available to government but are provided to NGOs,
and often reduce costs by relying partially on volunteer labor.
One of the more encouraging fi ndings fr om the studies we reviewed is that citi-
zens want to volunteer to engage in invasive plant management. The voluntary
sector is one of the fastest growing in North America (Rekart 2011 ), and research
suggests that volunteering to benefi t natural environments is especially popular.
Survey respondents expressed willingness to participate in all aspects of a coopera-
tive adaptive weed management strategy, from planning to monitoring to control
to restoration to education. It is worth noting, however, that volunteer labor is
not free. Organizations must be willing to invest in volunteer coordination and
M.W. Brunson and H. Kartchner