Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Implementing rodent eradication projects on federally owned islands in the U.S. can take 10 or more years to plan and often accounts for more than 50% of total project expenses. Consequently, identifying ways to improve planning efficiency by streamlining the compliance process will allow land managers to restore more islands, thereby increasing ecosystem productivity and improving species resilience. The compliance process, defined here as fulfilling National Environmental Policy Act requirements and securing all necessary state and federal permits, creates a valuable and robust framework to examine goals, develop alternatives, assess anticipated impacts, establish partnerships, and engage the public. Additionally, it provides permitting agencies and the public an opportunity to participate in the planning process. One significant challenge to the planning process is that many variables that need to be accounted for early in the process are social, economic, or political in nature and are frequently overlooked, downplayed, or disregarded. We reviewed the planning documents for several rodent eradication projects and identified areas where the process could be streamlined, described lessons learned, and made recommendations for future projects. Streamlining can be achieved by identifying programmatic solutions, understanding social and political constraints, and developing a robust, transparent assessment of a range of alternatives.