Learn how to detect invasive plants

Glacier National Park’s Citizen Science Program is offering two opportunities to help with early detection of invasive plants along park trails. Both opportunities are free of charge and open to the public.

 • The fifth annual Noxious Weed Blitz will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 15. Participants will meet at the park’s community building in West Glacier and will be trained to assist the Invasive Plant Management Program by learning to identify, map and pull invasive plants. 

A free lunch will be provided by the Glacier National Park Conservancy. Be prepared to spend the afternoon in the outdoors, pulling invasive plants. Bring gloves, hiking shoes and drinking water. RSVP if you would like to attend. To sign up or for more information, contact the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at 888-7986 or email glac_citizen_science@nps.gov.

• The Invasive Plant Management Program also is providing an online training course. Participants will learn how to identify five targeted invasive plants, conduct surveys and map locations of invasive plants using GPS units. Once training has been completed, visitors may check out GPS units from the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center to detect invasive plants while in the park. The online training program can be accessed http://www.crownscience.org/getinvolved/citizen-science/noxious-weeds. 

 The Invasive Plant Management Program at Glacier manages non-native invasive plants that displace native flora, interrupt ecological processes or degrade natural scenery. Most infestations of invasive plants in the park are correlated to disturbed areas such as roadsides, recreational areas and construction sites. However, the 700 miles of backcountry trails also provide a corridor for invasive plants to spread and monitoring is often difficult.

In 2008, the Invasive Plant Management Program and Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center established a citizen science program to enlist the help of the public to map the spread of invasive species in the backcountry. The Citizen Science Program, now in its ninth year, is supported by the Glacier National Park Conservancy. For more information about the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center visit  http://www.crownscience.org.