Ms. Erin Williams
VDACS, Division of Consumer Protection
102 Governor Street
Richmond, VA 23219

RE: Recommendations for Regulations for Enforcement of Noxious Weed Law 2 VAC 5-317

Dear Ms. Williams:

The Arlington County Urban Forestry Commission has reviewed the proposed regulations and appreciates this opportunity to provide comments.

The Commission is pleased that the Department of Agriculture is taking a first step in acknowledging the tremendous economic and environmental damage non-native invasive species inflict on agricultural and natural areas in Virginia.  However, the proposed regulation falls far short of providing the necessary tools for meaningful progress toward slowing the destruction wreaked by invasive species.  The proposed species to be included on the list include some, such as wavy leaf basket grass, whose exclusion would be beneficial to our state, but the list is so limited as to make the regulations virtually meaningless.  None of the listed plants is typically sold in the nursery industry, so the proposed regulations fail to address the intentional introduction of invasives plants through retail trade.  Likewise, the failure to include any enforcement provisions further undermines the seriousness and increasing long-term costs of this issue.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is far behind other states and other localities that have well-developed noxious weed laws and regulations.  The longer we wait to develop effective controls of non-native invasive species, the more severe will be the economic and environmental damage and the higher the resulting costs to remedy the impacts.

We urge that the proposed regulations be redrafted to include a more comprehensive list of non-native invasive species based on the Department of Conservation and Recreation guidelines and to include meaningful enforcement mechanisms.  If the Commonwealth of Virginia cannot take a leadership role in controlling non-native invasives species, then at local jurisdictions should be permitted to undertake eradication and suppression efforts.

In sum, we believe that the regulation as currently drafted is wholly inadequate and will result in very little impact on an increasingly urgent problem.

Sincerely,

Dean Amel, Chair
Arlington County Urban forestry Commission