Overview

National Invasive Species Council membership resides with the highest level of Federal leadership. The overarching duty of the Council is to provide the high-level vision and leadership necessary to sustain and expand Federal efforts to safeguard interests of the United States by preventing, eradicating, and controlling invasive species, as well as restoring ecosystems and other assets impacted by invasive species. NISC’s policy and planning activities benefit from the technical input provided by Federal agency staff and Federal inter-agency bodies working on invasive species issues, as well as non-Federal stakeholders.

NISC was created by EO 13112 in 1999 and is co-chaired by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce. NISC members include the Secretaries of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), as well as the Administrators of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and U.S. Agency for International Development. NISC provides high-level interdepartmental coordination of federal invasive species actions and works with other federal and non-federal groups to address invasive species issues at the national level.

Each NISC member has unique roles and responsibilities related to invasive species and is represented by a policy liaison to the Council. NISC duties, as outline in EO 13112 are to:

• Oversee implementation of EO 13112
• Encourage planning and action at local, tribal, state, regional, and ecosystem based level to achieve strategic goals
• Develop recommendations for international cooperation
• Work with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to develop guidance to federal agencies pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Facilitate development of a coordinated network among federal agencies to document, evaluate, and monitor invasive species impacts
• Prepare and issue a National Invasive Species Management Plan 

Additional information on invasive species and related topics is available at www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov, an information center maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Library.