Fighting Invasive Grasses in the Northern Great Plains: A Park Service Project

Grassland in Badlands National Park. NPS photo by David Restivo.

The project

Funding: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, invasive species program — $480,000 in FY24.

The National Park Service will use an adaptive management approach, developed with the U.S. Geological Survey, to prevent, eradicate and refine treatments for invasive grasses in the Northern Great Plains. The aims:

• better forage for bison and other wildlife;
• more native plant diversity;
• better habitat for pollinators;
• grasslands more resilient to climate change;
• restoration methods that can be shared with other regions.

A Northern Great Plains Collaborative Adaptive Landscape Management team was set up to support the project and grassland restoration more broadly.

Why it matters

Over the last 150 years, the region's native grasslands have been plowed for farming and other development, planted with non-native grasses, and overgrazed for livestock production. That has made them one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States. The Park Service aims to restore and protect what remains, and the benefits those grasslands provide.

Partners

Restoring grasslands depends on strong partnerships and many kinds of experience:

• the University of Wyoming's Institute for Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems will collect data on private rangelands and assess how herbicide treatments work in the region's parks;
• the Bureau of Land Management will work on similar questions about invasive plants and vegetation monitoring.

About the funding

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests in the resilience and restoration of the nation's lands, skies and waters, and in conservation and recreation. Visitors should see the results: repaired trails and campgrounds, invasive species removed, and healthier wetlands, grasslands and forests.

Sources

Based on "Project Profile: Manage Invasive Plants in Northern Great Plains," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.