National Parks are engaged in a fight with invasive species across our area that threaten the very park resources we are obliged to protect. But because invaders don’t recognize jurisdictional boundaries, even when a park succeeds in eradicating an invasive species, it can easily creep back over the park boundary from adjoining lands and re-invade. That’s why parks need to work together with our partners, neighbors, and other federal and state entities to manage across boundaries. We can’t do it alone.

That, in a nutshell, is why NCR PRISM (National Capital Region – Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management) was created. To coordinate the cross-boundary fight against invasive species in D.C. and all surrounding counties. Still a relatively new effort, NCR-PRISM has already begun to operate. [Read More]

[Photos. Above: Invasive two-horned trapa plant (Trapa bispinosa). Not the same as the yummy water chestnut we like to eat. And different from Trapa natans by having reddish leaf undersides, reddish sepals, pink petals, and seeds with two horizontally opposed pseudo-horns. Common names are so confusing! Credit: USACE/Lynde Dodd ]

A new video about monarch butterflies in American Sign Language (ASL) was recently created by Biological Science Technician Brittany Grouge and other staff at the National Mall and Memorial Parks. Grouge collaborated with Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist Ron Popowski to describe these fascinating and beautiful creatures that are seen on the National Mall during their spring and fall migrations.

[Image: Screenshot from NPS monarch butterfly video. Credit: NPS.]