1970-01-01

Advance Notice

The invaders are already here. We map the front line, track the spread, and tell you what’s coming for your yard, woods, water, and wallet.

Consumer-facing invasive species intelligence — county-by-county spread trackers, quarantine-zone maps, property-risk explainers, management playbooks, seasonal alerts, and weekly data journalism that translates fragmented federal, state, and citizen-science data into genuinely useful reporting.

Niche Explored

Invasive species frontline tracker — consumer-facing county-level intelligence on invasive species spreading across the U.S. (insects, plants, aquatic species), with identification guides, property risk assessments, economic damage scorecards, and actionable “what to do” content.

Existing Competition

EDDMapS (eddmaps.org) — University of Georgia. The closest competitor. Has massive data but terrible UX: cluttered academic interface, no editorial content, no personality, no “near me” consumer experience. Login required for data download. Not a content site.
PestTracker (pesttracker.org) — NAPIS survey maps by species/year. Government dashboard, zero consumer appeal. No editorial layer.
iMapInvasives (state-level, e.g., NY, PA) — State-specific, fragmented, no unified experience. Professional tool, not consumer.
USGS Siren (siren.fort.usgs.gov) — Beta USGS tool for screening invasive/non-native data. Research-oriented.
Eat The Invaders (eattheinvaders.org) — Fun angle but narrow focus on eating invasive species. Not a data-driven tracker.
Mental Floss interactive map — One-off article, not a maintained product.

Key gap: There is NO consumer-grade, beautifully designed, editorially sharp site that answers: “What invasive species are spreading near me, how fast, what damage are they doing, and what should I do?” The data exists across 5+ fragmented government databases. Nobody has synthesized it.

Data Sources Found

GBIF Occurrence API — Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Free, open, massive. Query by species, location, date. JSON/CSV. 2+ billion records. Includes iNaturalist research-grade observations. https://techdocs.gbif.org/en/openapi/v2
iNaturalist API — 200M+ observations. Free. Query observations by taxon, location, date, invasive status. https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations
USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) API — Structured JSON API for invasive aquatic species sightings by state/county/species. https://nas.er.usgs.gov/api/v2/
EDDMapS Query Tools — Downloadable CSV data for invasive species by state/county. Login required for large downloads but individual queries are open. https://www.eddmaps.org/tools/query/
USDA APHIS Pest Tracker / NAPIS — Survey data for regulated pests (spotted lanternfly, spongy moth, Asian longhorned beetle, etc.). Maps and data at https://pesttracker.org/
USDA APHIS Quarantine Boundary GIS — Shapefiles and ArcGIS feature services for quarantine zones (spotted lanternfly, spongy moth, box tree moth). https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis-ams-geospatial-hub
iNaturalist “introduced” filter — Can query specifically for observations flagged as introduced/invasive species.
State extension services — Penn State, Cornell, Clemson, UMD all publish invasive species guides with identification photos and management advice.

SEO Analysis

High-demand, low-competition keywords:
- “invasive species near me” — high volume, mostly served by one-off articles not tools
- “spotted lanternfly in [state]” — seasonal spikes (April-October), growing to 20+ states
- “Japanese knotweed identification” — year-round, property damage concern
- “invasive plants [state]” — state-specific landing pages could dominate
- “what invasive species are in my county” — zero good results currently
- “spotted lanternfly quarantine map” — federal quarantine exists but no consumer-friendly version
Seasonal SEO: Massive spring/summer spike (April-September) when invasive insects hatch and plants emerge
Year-round base: Property concerns, home buying, gardening, native plant restoration
Long-tail moat: 3,000+ counties × dozens of priority species = hundreds of thousands of unique rankable pages

Communities

r/invasivespecies — Active, growing subreddit. Constant “what is this?” and “is this invasive?” posts
r/NativePlantGardening — 200K+ members, deeply engaged with invasive removal
r/whatsthisbug — 1M+ members, frequent invasive species IDs
r/gardening, r/landscaping — Regular invasive species threads
iNaturalist community — 2M+ users globally, strong citizen science engagement
Facebook groups — Dozens of state-level invasive species removal groups
Master Gardener networks — County extension service volunteers, natural distribution channel
“Eat the invaders” / invasivorism movement — US Fish & Wildlife promoted eating invasive species in Feb 2025, National Geographic and Smithsonian covered it. Growing trend.

Image/Graphic Feasibility

Excellent. Invasive species are visually dramatic:
- Species cards with identification photos (Creative Commons from iNaturalist)
- County/state heat maps of invasion spread over time (animated progression maps)
- Quarantine zone maps with current boundaries
- “Frontline” progression maps showing year-over-year spread
- Economic damage scorecards with infographic-style numbers
- Seasonal risk calendars (when to look for what)
- Before/after native habitat photos
- AI-generated editorial illustrations for mascot and feature graphics
iNaturalist photos are CC-licensed and programmatically accessible via API

Economic Scale

Invasive species cost the U.S. an estimated $21+ billion per year (USFWS)
Some estimates put total cumulative costs at $120+ billion since 1960
Spotted lanternfly alone: potential $500M/year in Pennsylvania, $8M+ over 3 years for NY grape industry
Invasive carp: hundreds of millions in management costs
Japanese knotweed: can reduce UK property values by 10-15%, increasingly a concern in eastern US