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Faith T. Campbell, Senior Policy Representative

Invasive species are widely considered to pose a serious threat to biological diversity conservation, to ecosystem services, and to human well-being around the world. Non-native insects and plant diseases that attack tree species threaten ecosystems and the character of our neighborhoods, as well as links across generations. These non-native insects and plant diseases are particularly challenging to manage because of the high level of damage that they cause and the difficulty in containing them once they have been introduced. More than 400 non-native insects and pathogens already are killing trees across North America. Worse, harmful new invasions continue to occur, although many of these introductions are preventable. Within the Global Invasive Species Team, the forest pest and pathogen program helps The Conservancy and our partners ensure that invasive species of insects and plant diseases do not undermine all our efforts to effectively protect native tree species and natural forest communities. To this end, our work has focused on two goals:

1. Preventing harmful new invasions and the spread of invaders--primarily in North America but increasingly at the international scale.
2. Building alliances with partners in government and among non-governmental stakeholders with the aim of strengthening public and private efforts to protect native tree species from invasive insects and diseases.

I translate scientists' advice on preventing and containing non-native forest insects and diseases into policy-relevant materials and utilize those materials in on-going interactions with decision-makers in the Congress, federal agencies, affected state agencies and their representatives organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade associations, and private for-profit companies.

I work closely with other members of the Global Invasive Species Team, especially the other forest specialist, Frank Lowenstein; and The Conservancy's Government Relations department. Frank and I also work closely with partners who have joined the Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases.

Faith Campbell
Global Invasive Species Team
The Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203-1606

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