Efficient and effective weed control programs and strategies are characterized by efforts that prevent invasions and quickly detect new occurrences so the species may be removed or contained before spreading. The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Noxious Weed Prevention and Control Program works under the assumption that it is more cost effective to keep pests out of California than to address potentially widespread and ongoing infestations. The strategy for pest prevention is similar for all kinds of pests. There are four major parts: 1) keep a foreign pest from getting into California in the first place (exclusion); 2) if a pest does get in, find it while the population is still small (detection); 3) when such a population is found, remove it so California is once again free of the pest (eradication); and 4) inform the public of the importance of keeping California free of new pests. (from the 2003 Forest and Rangeland Assessment)