Principal Investigator: Scott D. Klopfer, Conservation Management Institute, Virginia Polytechic Institute and State University
Co-Principal Investigator: Michael St. Germain, Conservation Management Institute, Virginia Polytechic Institute and State University
Years Funded: 2012-2014
Project Description:
Nutria, Myocastor coypus, are invasive to the United States and pose a threat to the health of coastal marsh systems wherever they occur. While Maryland has recently proved that nutria eradication is difficult, yet possible, population ranges in both Virginia and North Carolina appear to be expanding in recent years.
Successful eradication efforts in Maryland were adapted into a multiagency plan to contain and eradicate Nutria through the Mid-Atlantic Nutria Management Program (MANMaP) for Virginia and North Carolina. To increase the likelihood of the project’s success, a strategic plan was developed with specific logistical and technical recommendations of eradication . The goals of the MANMaP were to: 1) develop a coordinated effort to stop the spread of nutria, 2) identify the present range of nutria in Virginia and North Carolina, 3) improve our understanding of the threat nutria post to wetland systems and personal property, 4) educate decision makers and the public about the threat of nutria, and the potential benefits of nutria control, and 5) develop options for reducing, or eradicating, nutria within Virginia and North Carolina. The MANMaP will continue to work to carry out the developed strategic plan in Virginia and North Carolina.
Publications: Strategic Plan for the Mid-Atlantic Nutria Management Program (MANMaP)
Photo: Nutria (Myocastor coypus) Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service