BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK DECLARES WAR ON WEEDS

According to a recent [1998] publication by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, non-native and invasive plants account for $13 billion of lost revenue every year in the United States. Termed “an economic black hole,” this fiscal fiasco is due to the cost of herbicide application and loss of pasture and/or cropland to infestations of invasive plants that over-run the native species.

Within the Badlands National Park, there are several non-native plants that are reducing the overall diversity of the native mixed grass prairie. Resource managers at Badlands are utilizing a variety of control measures in order to minimize future loss of native prairie to invasive plants. One line of defense includes what is known as bio-control, which is the release of insects that prey upon non-native plants. These bugs are chosen only if they pose no immediate or long-term threat to the native plants. Park managers also use prescribed fires as another tool. Native plants are adapted to periodic burns occurring on the prairie, whereas many non-native plants oftentimes are unable to recover from prescribed fires. Application of herbicides, often done on foot or horseback, is practiced along with bio-control and prescribed fires in order to reduce non-native plants while enhancing overall native plant diversity within the park. Hopefully, within a few decades, visitors will be able to look out across a native American prairie once again.

For more information, visit the Ben Reifel Visitor Center in Badlands National Park for a exhibit on non-native plants during Plant Diversity Week (July 9 through 15) or contact Focus Week Coordinators Greg Sandine or Brian Burket at (605)433-5244.