Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, like many sites along the 185-mile-long Kittatinny Ridge, considers the continued threat of non-native vegetation its top forest stewardship challenge. Its award-winning stewardship staff see the signs annually, having spent more than a decade working to remediate more than 300 acres of impacted forest. Pennsylvania supports over 2,000 species of native plants, and all are threatened by invasive flora. These introduced plants can quickly take over, outcompeting native species for water, nutrient-rich soil, and sunlight. The resulting lack of diversity negatively impacts wildlife habitat, water quality, and contributes to an overall decline in the health of the ecosystem.

The importance of native plants is undeniable. They provide wildlife with food and habitat necessary to survive, an important ecological role that cannot be filled by an unfamiliar species. Some species simply cannot survive without these symbiotic relationships. For example, monarch butterfly caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed plants. If milkweed is choked out by invasive flora, the monarch larvae will be unable to complete their lifecycle, leading to a drastic population decline of these already-threatened butterflies. Native plants also protect the environment, as they reduce soil erosion and runoff, desertification, can help prevent forest fires and flooding, and even slow the spread of disease in plants. The biodiversity of an ecosystem stabilized by native vegetation is all-around much healthier than one overrun by a few of the same plant species.

To manage the spread of invasive plants in our own forest, Hawk Mountain’s three-member stewardship team has committed to a consistent and persistent, long-term remediation strategy, guided by the Sanctuary’s Forest Management Plan. A combination of spraying, pulling, and mowing is utilized to control the invasive vegetation, and managing stormwater runoff that carries seeds and pollen from roadways is key to minimizing further spread.

Friends of the Kittatinny can join the fight against invasive flora by learning the top invasive plant offenders to pull, year after year. Hawk Mountain hosts events that teach homeowners how to identify and remove non-native flora, as well as how to encourage native vegetation growth on your property. Volunteering at a native plant garden or serving as a trail tender for a local conservation group or park is another way to steward our native lands. Trail maintenance is critical to reducing the spread of invasives, ensuring that trails do not widen and create more surface area for stormwater runoff and erosion.

Practicing native gardening in your own backyard is a major way landowners can help. A visit to your local garden center is a step in the right direction, but unfortunately most plants marketed to us as “backyard garden friendly” or “attractive to pollinators” are in fact not native and may do more harm than good. Barberry is a great example of a popular ornamental shrub that has the capacity to wreak havoc on our local ecosystems. Birds carry the berries into healthy forest tracts where adult shrubs choke out fragile but beautiful spring ephemerals, like Jacob’s ladder, trillium, and lady slippers, along with a host of other native ground covers, flowers, and other plants.

A quick google search into the life history of that plant in your shopping cart is the first step to becoming an informed gardener. The next move is to source plants from reputable and knowledgeable growers, or to seek out a native plant nursery. Native plant sales have also grown in popularity, with many being hosted by local environmental organizations throughout the Kittatinny region. Hawk Mountain has its own Native Plant Sale twice a year, one in the spring and the other in the fall.

Join them in the fight against non-native plants! Learn more…