Biosecurity Toolkit Purpose and Overview

Biosecurity, or the prevention, detection, and removal of invasive species, is a universal challenge facing Island Protected Areas* around the world. Thus, natural resource managers seeking to initiate or expand biosecurity programs can benefit from improved knowledge transfer and access to shared resources that bridge the gap between biosecurity theory and practice. This toolkit serves as a collection of programmatic, operational, and educational materials that can be adapted for use by US federal agencies in the Department of the Interior (DOI), but also by state and local agencies, NGOs, and other island conservation managers and stakeholders operating across various scales and systems. The toolkit is not a step-by-step guide to creating a biosecurity program from the ground up, but rather provides a set of building blocks that Island Protected Area managers can borrow, combine, and modify based on their needs and capabilities.

The resources in this toolkit address the most important components of a successful biosecurity program, including assigning staff biosecurity roles and responsibilities, assessing risks of new invasions, orienting new staff to biosecurity programs, developing a biosecurity plan, writing contracts that promote secure transport of people and cargo to islands, identifying and communicating with key groups of island visitors, and building collaboration between island stakeholders. These tools were developed and refined through our own efforts building and maintaining the Channel Islands Biosecurity Program, with lessons adopted from successful island biosecurity programs around the world. Our hope is that these resources can be of use to other Island Protected Area managers as they seek to bolster similar biosecurity programs. For easier navigation, this toolkit is organized into two sections, templates and example documents.

*Islands and groups of islands that are managed at least in part for the protection of biological diversity, native species, natural processes or wilderness character.