Realizing and assessing social successes in invasive species management

Abstract Each year untold numbers of land managers and volunteers work individually and collectively to manage invasive plant, animal, and insect species. Whether such efforts are deemed successful depends on ecological and economic outcomes, with limited consideration of the social processes, costs, and benefits. This article provides a critical reflection of dominant approaches to invasive species management that frequently overlook social processes and outcomes in the setting of program goals and metrics of success. Based on our collective experience researching people's engagement with invasive species and conservation more broadly, we propose that future policy and practice need to incorporate three principles: diversity and social justice, learning from failure, and explicit acknowledgement of social relationships as management enablers. Insights from innovations in invasive species management and other natural resource management fields indicate that such re‐envisioning of invasive species management can produce diverse co‐benefits beyond reducing invasive species impacts.