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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) stated 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 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.
For more information about this program contact:
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