JCD member David Tonkin is thrilled to announce the completion of a Washington State study on the economic impact of invasive species: plants, animals, and insects. David began working on this issue in 2014, with formation of the Scotch Broom Working Group – which he co-founded with Jill Silver, former Chair of the Jefferson County Noxious Weed Control Board.
The public release of the report occurred on January 12. Funded and initiated by several Washington State agencies and conducted by Community Attributes Inc. of Seattle, the study involved 12 invasive plant species, 3 invasive animal species and 3 invasive insect species. Its major conclusions are that these invasive species costs Washington’s businesses and government $1.3 billion and 8000 jobs lost each year, and that the most costly species are: Rush skeletonweed, Scotch broom, apple maggots, and zebra & quagga mussels. Read the press release, fact sheet, and the full report by going to the links below.
It took a lot of phone calls, emails and meetings, but David got support from the Jefferson County Democrats, 24th LD Democrats, and the WA State Democratic Party (aided by several JCD members), a quarter of the WA State Republican Party State Committee, the WA State Assoc. of [county] Noxious Weed Control Board Coordinators, 6 tribes, and a dozen WA business associations representing WA farm, ranch and timber businesses. With that support behind him, he lobbied the relevant state agencies and got support from 2 state agency heads. Then the Washington State Invasive Species Council and Noxious Weed Control Board were able to persuade those state agencies to put together a funding package and do a study of the economic impact of 18 invasive species: plants, animals, and insects
Please note that former JCD E-Bd members George Yount, Bill Miller, Claire Roney, Bruce Cowan, and Deborah Pedersen all contributed to the successful passage of the resolution by the WSDP Agriculture Caucus and Resolutions Committee and finally by the WSDCC. David Tonkin gives special thanks to Jill Silver for her excellent presentation to the Ag Caucus.
Congratulations and gratitude to all who worked hard to focus attention and bring together the forces that created this study. We’ll look forward to hearing from David at our January 26th membership meeting and learning more about how this may impact legislation.