IBI, the International Broom Initiative, formed to support cooperation in developing effective biological control agents for brooms and gorse. These woody legumes are a serious ecological and economic problem in California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii, as well as in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They invade and degrade coastal and mountain ecosystems, present a dangerous source of fuel for wildfire, and inhibit forest regeneration in logged timberlands. Biocontrol agents undergo rigorous host-specificity testing to insure that particular insect agents that feed on these plants in their home range can be safely imported with minimal danger of them affecting other species in their invasive range. This testing requires scientific expertise, quarantine facilities, and international cooperative agreements. The most cost-effective strategy for pursuing this research is to take advantage of overlap and economies of scale in two ways: (1) to work on all of the species as part of one project, since many of the same tasks need to be performed for each species, and (2) to conduct host-specificity research using local plants from all affected areas -- CA, OR, WA, HI, AU, and NZ -- in one project. Through IBI, scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Albany, California have developed a working relationship with Australian researchers already conducting broom biocontrols research in France, as well as with the California Department of Food & Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The team is assembled -- now they need funding! As of early 2003, language has been prepared for a Congressional funding request that would allow USDA ARS to conduct broom biocontrols research in conjunction with other IBI project partners. We will be advocating for its passage. You can help! Please write a support letter expressing how this project would help you and California's environment. IBI info: IBI Funding Request, 2003 IBI Funding Request, 2002 Map- broom and gorse in California IBI Meeting, Santa Rosa, Dec- 13, 2001 IBI Endorsements IBI poster and slide presentations IBI 2003 Report Broom reports:
	French Broom Reports   Scotch Broom Reports
Different fates of island brooms : contrasting evolution in Adenocarpus, Genista, and Teline (Genisteae, Fabaceae) in the Canary Islands and Madeira - Diana M. Percy and Quentin C. B. Cronk Hawaii Report: A search in Spain and Portugal for Potential Biocontrol Agents for Gorse (Ulex europaeus europaeus L.) in Hawaii. Funded by Parker Ranch, Inc., Hawaii, USA. Conducted by CSIRO Entemology. Compiled by Dr. Andy Sheppard.