About First Coast Invasive Working Group

The First Coast Invasive Working Group’s (FCIWG) is a Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) that got established in December 2006 to work across Federal, State, Local, and private lands for invasive species management.  The FCIWG is one of the many statewide regional partnerships that is helping the State of Florida prevent and control invasive species.

The FCIWG has focused its resources in the five NEFL county area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties. The region includes key natural areas stretching from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the St. Marys watershed to the Anastasia and Guana State Park area. The five county area allows the FCIWG to manage at a scale large enough for viable early detection and rapid response control efforts while remaining manageable.

One of the preliminary goals of the FCIWG is to have regional priorities of invasive species such as Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica) and Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum). Interagency cooperation of the FCIWG allows the partners to:

• share and leverage limited resources;
• provide an early detection and rapid response regional network;
• secure and coordinate funding;
• implement a coordinated approach to improve the effectiveness of management efforts which would ultimately reduce costs;
• build highly visible and joint community awareness for prevention efforts; and
• present a united front to state and federal legislators

For all of these reasons, the FCIWG is composed of Federal, State, local and private land managers with multiple conservation areas and interest that can support these goals within the five counties. Current FCIWG members consist of:

• Army Corps of Engineers
• Audubon Crosby Sanctuary
• Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area
• County governments of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns County and the municipalities of Atlantic Beach and Fernandina Beach
• Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
• Florida  Department of Environmental Protection: Division of Recreation and Parks such as Ft. Clinch, Talbot, Pumpkin Hill, Ft. Mose, and Guana State Parks, Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas
• Florida Department of Transportation, District 2
• Florida Division of Forestry, Jacksonville and Bunnell Districts
• Florida Division of Plant Industry, Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Program
• Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine National Research Reserve
• Florida Native Plant Society, Ixia and Sea Oats Chapters
• Florida Natural Areas Inventory
• Florida Sea Grant
• Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Garden
• National Park Service, Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve and Ft. Caroline
• Natural Resource Conservation Service, Baldwin Service Center
• Soil & Water Conservation District, Clay and Duval
• St. Johns River Water Management District
• The Nature Conservancy
• University of Florida Institute of Food & Agriculture Science and the Extension offices of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns
• University of North Florida
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• U.S. Forest Service, Osceola National Forest
• White Oak Plantation

The FCIWG meets quarterly and rotate the meetings among the five counties. Public and private land managers within the five county area are welcomed and invited to attend. For more information, please contact the FCIWG at FirstCoast@floridainvasives.org.