White House disbands invasive species advisory board - Entrepreneur Generations

As of Tuesday, the Trump administration will disband a federal advisory board focused on battling invasive species. The Interior Department's Invasive Species Advisory Committee has been in operation for more than a decade, Miranda Green reports for The Hill. One of ISAC's key functions is overseeing efforts to prevent invasive species from getting into the U.S. through ports of entry.

In a June executive order, President Trump called on all federal agencies to cut their advisory boards by at least one-third by Sept. 30. He recommended cutting agencies that have fulfilled their objective, are redundant because of other committees, study an "obsolete" subject matter, or cost too much to operate, Green and Rebecca Beitsch report.

ISAC advisors found out through a May 2 phone call that the committee would be disbanded. "Committee members were told that the advisory council was ending because the budget for the National Invasive Species Council, which oversees the advisory committee, was expected to be halved," Green reports. "Congress last month passed a continuing resolution that funded NISC’s budget to its full $1.2 million level."

Several committee members told The Hill that their recommendations on preventing invasive species from entering the country often annoyed invasive species staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and described an atmosphere of "overt antagonism" from some USDA staff that has grown into "pretty transparent hostility," Green reports.

ISAC advisers also expressed frustration with a lack of coordination among agencies tasked with preventing the entry of invasive species, and said they worry that disbanding ISAC will result in more invasive species entering the U.S., Green reports.

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