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Invasive Species and the National Parks
An Introduction to the National Parks Invasive Weeds Curriculum Integrating Invasive Weeds within Middle School Sciences
Alien plant species affect us all. Whether you live in an urban area or rural farm lands, whether you live near one of our National Parks, alien plant species (also referred to as exotics, non-native, weeds, introduced, and non-indigenous) affect the biodiversity of all our lands. Alien plants can damage or replace native animal and plant populations, as well as the health of our ecosystems by replacing land and water quality. Each year alien plants cause billions of dollars in damage to public and private lands and the ecosystems upon which we all depend. A National Park Service (NPS) Fact Sheet states that 196 of 368 National Parks have serious problems posed by invasive plant species. The costs of managing weeds were estimated at $80 million during 1996 — 2000. You might wonder how a curriculum on weeds can become a part of your school's curriculum. Aliens In Your Neighborhood is not a curriculum about weeds, but instead provides a model for integrating a theme within a school's curriculum at the middle school level, as well as expanding it to multiple grade levels and subjects (math, language arts, social studies, art, etc.). The National Park Service, in cooperation with a wide variety of local, state, and other federal agencies, is working to control invasive species through cooperative partnerships with communities and unifying management plans. Invasive species know no boundaries; the aliens are in your neighborhood, and your students can help!
The National Park Service has developed a series of strategies and associated benchmarks to direct efforts toward managing invasive plant species. Invasive exotic weeds infest 7 million acres of our national parks, or the equivalent of 31% of park land outside of Alaska. To control these alien invaders, the NPS has identified about 450 Integrated Weed Management projects to control these exotics (NPS Fact Sheet, 2000). The Strategic Plan for Managing Invasive Nonnative Plants on National Park System Lands lists several areas where students can be directly involved (Preserving Our Natural Heritage, 1996): Students can help by:
The Aliens In Your Neighborhood curriculum addresses all these key national strategies, enabling your students to become working partners with their National Parks System as Citizen Scientists.
Throughout this curriculum guide, links are
provided to give you and your students additional background
information and resources for in-depth studies. The textbook
edition includes websites within each section, as well as a full
Resources section in the back of the book. The online edition
includes embedded links to pages within the curriculum guide and
to relevant sites on the Internet.
This National Parks, integrated weeds curriculum was created by
Mark Goddard, and is sponsored by:
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