Obtaining spatially explicit, cost-effective, and management-relevant data on invasive plant distributions across large natural areas presents considerable challenges. This is especially true when multiple monitoring objectives exist, because the utility of different monitoring methodologies varies with scale, logistical considerations, and information needs. The Florida Everglades is a vast wetland landscape with widespread invasive plant infestations and multiple management jurisdictions. A multi-agency team Working Group conducted a workshop in 2013 to explore opportunities to enhance the performance of a regional weed control program. Among the most important developments occurring at this meeting was the recognition that relevant management questions are scale-dependent. This led the team to define multiple monitoring objectives. Essential for conveying the success of the weed management program is quantifying large-scale patterns of change, as are quantifying fine-scale patterns informing control activities, defining mechanisms of spread, recognizing accelerating rates of spread, and detecting patterns of occupancy immediately before management intervention. The group’s deliberation resulted in the emergence of a multiscale monitoring program utilizing several distinct monitoring protocols, including systematic landscape-level reconnaissance, a sample-based spatially stratified monitoring system, detailed inventories in planned treatment areas, and a set of methods focused solely on early detection and rapid response. Here we provide an overview of the Everglades multiscale invasive plant monitoring program, highlight benefits and challenges of each program component, and discuss how this program has improved regional invasive plant management.

Precision means being exact and accurate and is an important management component for cropping systems. However, precision does not mean integration, which encompasses spatial and temporal dimensions and is a necessary practice rivaling precision. True IWM merges precision and integration by incorporating advanced technology that allows for greater flexibility of inputs and enhanced responsiveness to field conditions. Examples of this approach are non-existent due to a lack of suitable technological tools and a need for a paradigm shift. Herein a potential model startup company is offered as a guide to advance beyond precision weed control to true integration. The critical components of such a company include grower connections, investor support, proven and reliable technology, and adaptability and innovation in the agricultural technology market. The company with the vision and incentive to make true IWM a reality will be the first to more fully integrate available tools using technology, thus helping many growers overcome ongoing challenges associated with resistance, soil erosion, drift, and weed seedbanks.