Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Washington
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Freshwater ecosystems provide a range of important values in the Pacific Northwest, and invasive species represent key threats to those values. Management of invasive species requires managers to effectively allocate limited resources to suppression or eradication, requiring robust information about invasive population structure, distribution, and rate of spread, as well as the efficacy of control actions. Data integration is a powerful statistical approach that is rapidly developing in both theory and application, wherein multiple data streams are brought together through a shared data likelihood. There is a critical need for data integration methods designed to make the best use of available, but often highly variable, data on invasive species for use in effective management models. We are partnering with the USFWS Columbia Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands Regions, and the University of Washington, to develop broadly applicable data integration and modeling approaches for invasive species, with a focus on two high priority species in the Pacific Northwest: flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) and rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus). This project will inform joint monitoring and management programs for these species, and similar invasive species, in the Pacific Northwest, nationally, and beyond.