Plants

Badlands National Park is over 50% mixed grass prairie. Over 60 types of grass thrive here, as well as dozens of flowering plants. Although sparse, a few trees and shrubs successfully eke out an existence with less than 16 inches of precipitation each year. As you drive the Loop Road, there are some specific plants that may draw your eye, depending on the time of year.

It is well known that westward expansion greatly changed life for the American Indians already calling this land home. It is less familiar to hear that the coming of Euro-Americans drastically changed the plant communities native to the Great Plains. By bringing ornamental plants for beauty or accidentally carrying seeds in the cuffs of pants or through the manure of their horses and cattle, the settlers brought dozens of new plants to the prairie that rapidly threatened to force out the native plants. At Badlands National Park, we are actively trying to restore this mixed grass prairie to close to its original state. Exhibits, programs, and publications will further explain the actions underway to combat non-native plants. You may find some of these exotic intruders beautiful. Beauty is just one value to be placed on an ecosystem. Take the chance to learn more about the introduced and native species of the Badlands.

* Denotes exotic or naturalized species

* Denotes exotic or naturalized species

REFERENCES

Agnew, W. 1983. Flora and Fauna Associated with Prairie Dog Ecosystems. M. A. Thesis. Department of Range Science. Colorado State University. Fort Collins, Colorado. 47p.

Albertson, F. W. 1953. Report of Study of Grassland Areas of Badlands National Monument, South Dakota; Fort Robinson Military Reservation in Nebraska; North and South Units of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, North Dakota; and Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Contract No. 14-10- 232-26 between the National Park Service and Fort Hays, Kansas State College. 50p.

Cincotta, R. P., D. W. Uresk and R. M. Hansen. Ecology of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog in the Badlands National Park. NPS. Rocky Mountain Regional Office. Contract No. CX 1200- B035.

Hull-Sieg, C. l. 1983. Wildlife Associations in Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) stands in Western South Dakota. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Rapid City, South Dakota.

Johnson, J. R. and J. T. Nichols. 1970. Plants of South Dakota Grasslands - A Photographic Study. Bulletin 566. Agricultural Experimental Station. South Dakota State University. Brookings, South Dakota. 163p.

Lindstrom, L. 1959. The Flowering Plants of the Badlands National Monument of South Dakota. M. A. Thesis. University of South Dakota, Vermillion. 39p.

McGregor, R. L., T. M. Barkley, R. E. Brooks and E. K. Schofield. 1986. Flora of the Great Plains. University  Press of Kansas. Lawrence, Kansas. 1392p.

Olson, V. 1988. The Steppe Vegetation of the North Unit of Badlands National Park. Masters Thesis. Department of Biology. University of South Dakota. 202p.

Swartzlow,C. R. and R. F. Upton. 1954. Badlands National Monument, South Dakota. Natural History Handbook - Series No.2., Washington, D.C.

Steigers Jr., William D. 1981. Habitat Use and Mortality of Mule Deer Fawns in Western South Dakota. PhD  Thesis. Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young University. 193p.

Van Bruggen, T. 1985. The Vascular Plants of South Dakota. 2nd ed. Iowa State University Press. Ames, Iowa. 476p.

Van Bruggen, T. 1983. Wildflowers Grasses & Other Plants of the Northern Plains and Black Hills. Badlands Natural History Association. Interior, South Dakota. 96p.

Will Wolf, S. 1975. Multivariate Analysis of Foraging Site Selection by Flower-feeding Insects in a Western  South Dakota Prairie. PhD. Dissertation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 500p.

Prepared Summer - 1990

Updated 10-16-91

Updated 09-26-92

Exotic Plants Annotated 12-28-93