Project Profile: Control Invasive Plants in Appalachia

A person wearing safety gear uses clippers to cut invasive plants in a forest.

NPS Photo

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Invasive Species | FY23 $50,250

The National Park Service will hire a biological technician and two interns to assist the Southeast Region Invasive Plant Management Team (SE IPMT) in coordinating Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) efforts, provide training to parks, and work with parks to complete additional treatments to manage invasive plants. The efforts of the project will decrease invasive plant populations in five parks (Cumberland Gap, Big South Fork/Obed Wild and Scenic River, Mammoth Cave, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga) across the Southeast Region.

Why? Across Appalachia, invasive plants are spreading due to ecosystem disturbance caused by severe storms, flooding, and drought. Taking an EDRR approach to remove new infestations of invasive plants will help minimize forest threats while cultivating climate resilience and preventing invasive plants from advancing, expanding, and destroying pristine ecosystems. Forests will be better able to recover from disturbance and sustain or increase biodiversity through a One Health, landscape level approach that includes invasive plant management.

What Else? This project aims to foster partner and community engagement to assist in invasive plant removal and EDRR. For example, staff and interns will have the opportunity to assist Mammoth Cave staff in hosting volunteer workdays that target invasive species, along with state agencies and the NPS Cumberland Piedmont Inventory and Monitoring Network’s EDRR program.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration

This project was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration, signed on November 15, 2021. It is a historic investment in the restoration and protection of the environment.