National Wildlife Refuge System Invasive Species Strike Team Act of 2025

The National Wildlife Refuge System Invasive Species Strike Team Act of 2025 would authorize the Department of the Interior, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to create a National Wildlife Refuge System Invasive Species Strike Team Program. The program aims to eradicate, control, and reduce the negative impacts of invasive species on and near National Wildlife Refuge System lands and waters. It emphasizes prevention, biosecurity, early detection, and rapid response, with at least one dedicated strike team in each USFWS region. Teams would conduct prevention, surveillance, eradication/containment, mapping, monitoring, and active management using integrated pest management, alongside training, exercises, and use of standardized incident response practices (including the Incident Command System). The bill also envisions partnerships with federal, state, tribal, local governments, NGOs, and private groups; standardized taxonomy across Interior databases; and use of national and regional reporting platforms to share data. The Secretary could provide financial or technical assistance to adjacent landowners and other entities and could enter agreements with other agencies to deploy strike teams to address invasive species. The bill would require two Congressionally mandated progress reports and would authorize $15 million per year for 2026–2030 to fund the program.