Multi-park Invasive Plant Management Plan out for Review

Date: February 28, 2011
Contact: Steven Bekedam, 208-527-1351
Contact: John Apel, 208-527-1350

The National Park Service is seeking public comment on a new plan to manage nonnative invasive and exotic plants at ten National Park Service (NPS) units in the northern Rocky Mountains including Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve. Nonnative invasive or exotic species are considered one of the greatest threats to global biological diversity and are a threat to national park ecosystems. The NPS has developed an Environmental Assessment (EA) that presents two alternatives to address nonnative invasive plant management in national parks in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.   

Alternative 1 is a continuation of current management while Alternative 2 would use a systematic 7-step process, developed by the parks, to address the threat of nonnative invasive plant management. The preferred alternative (Alternative 2) would provide the parks with a flexible invasive plant management process, using Integrated Pest Management techniques and adaptive management to direct nonnative invasive plant management activities and to prioritize management actions, target plants and resources.  

According to Superintendent Doug Neighbor, "Alternative 2 would enact a far more strategic and deliberate effort to manage nonnative plants across these ten national park units while limiting the environmental impacts of the treatments selected." Neighbor added that both alternatives were derived from comments received during public scoping in 2008 and from internal scoping which occurred throughout the preparation of the EA. 

The EA is currently undergoing a 45-day public review period. The public is invited to submit written comments by April 11, 2011, regarding the proposed project online at the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/gosp (PEPC project number 20520), or send email comments to: [e-mail]. Comments may also be mailed to Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, P.O. Box 29, Arco, Idaho 83213. A complete copy of the EA can be found at the NPS PEPC website listed above. Print or CD copies are available upon request.  

For questions or comments relating to those portions of the EA referring to Craters of the Moon NationalMonument and Preserve, please contact Steven Bekedam (208) 527- 1351 or John Apel [phone] (https://www.nps.gov/crmo).