Invasive Plants

A monitoring tape measure stretches from Japanese stiltgrass into a large and spiny Japanese barberry shrub. Photo: NPS

Invasive plant monitoring is a part of forest vegetation monitoring in the National Capital Region Network (NCRN).

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Monitored At

• Antietam National Battlefield
• Catoctin Mountain Park
• Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
• George Washington Memorial Parkway
• Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
• Manassas National Battlefield Park
• Monocacy National Battlefield
• National Capital Parks - East
• Prince William Forest Park
• Rock Creek Park
• Wolf Trap National Park For The Performing Arts

Objectives

The NCRN will document status and long term trends in:

• Distribution, abundance and basal area of exotic trees and shrubs: This will allow the NCRN to determine if exotic trees and shrubs are becoming more common and to determine what changes in forest vegetation condition are associated with these exotic species.
• Exotic understory plant distribution and cover: Exotic plants may be able to out-compete native understory plants. By monitoring the distribution of understory plants the NCRN will be able to determine which plants are spreading throughout the region. The NCRN will monitor the cover of exotic plants to determine how large of an impact they are having in the plots where they occur. The NCRN will work with the regional Exotic Plant Management Team and the Invasive Species Coordinator to determine which plants should be monitored. The list is updated annually as new plant species invade network parks.
• Vines on trees: The NCRN will identify all vine species growing on each tree, including exotic vines, and determine which trees have vines growing in the crown. This will allow us to determine if invasive vines are spreading and if trees that have vines have a higher mortality rate that those without vines.

Documents

Resource Briefs

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Source: Data Store Saved Search 1276. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Reports

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Source: Data Store Saved Search 1303. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Protocols

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Source: Data Store Saved Search 1464. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Data

Use the Forest Vegetation Visualizer to browse the results of long-term monitoring of forest birds in NCRN parks through maps, graphs, species lists, and tabular data from 2006 to the present.

Quick Reads