Following up Florida's creation of a python posse, federal agencies will let hunters kill the invasive snakes in a national refuge.

The federal government on Thursday said it would open up Big Cypress National Wildlife Refuge, which borders Everglades National Park, to a pilot program allowing licensed hunters to ''terminate'' any python they encounter.

It's part of a broad program to control the invasive snakes, laid out Thursday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The announcement comes days after Florida Sen. Bill Nelson called for a controlled hunt in Everglades National Park and state wildlife managers announced they would permit expert trappers to kill snakes on state marshland.

The program includes many things park scientists have been doing for years to battle the Burmese import: outreach and hot lines for the public; studies of python movements, habits and threats to the ecosystem; and programs to design python traps and sexual scents that might be used to bait them.

But Salazar, who pledged to tackle the snake problem during his first visit to the Everglades in May, also vowed to seek more funding to expand efforts.

For instance, federal scientists are working with the University of Florida to develop drone aircraft with thermal imaging to pinpoint the difficult-to-detect snakes.

The park also might add to the dozen agents who have removed hundreds of pythons during the past few years, and will consider whether to expand the state's expert posse program into Everglades National Park.

One hurdle is a park prohibition against hunting. But the pilot program will open federal land in the Big Cypress, where seasonal hunting and guns are allowed. Because no laws protect python, there is technically nothing to prohibit properly licensed hunters from shooting them now, but the program would formalize the effort and data collection.

''We are committed to aggressively combating this threat, including having trained and well-supervised volunteers hunt down and remove snakes,'' Salazar said in a release.

Eradicating python will be difficult. Scientists say less than 5 percent of the estimated 100,000-plus snakes in the park are ever seen. Hunting alone likely won't do it. ''There is no one silver bullet,'' said Paul Souza, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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