Proposed Native Plant Pilot Program on National Land Not as Slight as It May Seem

July 29, 2022 by Kate Michael
Proposed Native Plant Pilot Program on National Land Not as Slight as It May Seem
{Photo by Dan McCue)

WASHINGTON — What may seem like a minor initiative was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week, but a proposed bill to create a pilot program promoting the use of native plants at the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management actually could have major consequences for biodiversity, habitat building and even future human survival.

“It’s too bad we have to legislate it, it should be our single knee-jerk reaction,” Douglas Tallamy, entomologist, ecologist, conservationist, and author of multiple books on the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife told The Well News about the Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act.

Tallamy, a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, is one of the nation’s foremost experts in understanding the key relationship between native plants and their place in essential ecosystems with creatures — including humans — that depend on them.

“Plants capture energy from the sun and turn it into food,” Tallamy explained, adding, however, that “90% of the insects that eat plants can develop and reproduce only on the plants with which they share an evolutionary history,” or plants native to that insect.

So if something doesn’t eat that plant, Tallamy claims, it isn’t serving any purpose other than ornamentation. 

“Non-native plants are very poor at passing on their energy,” Tallamy laments. And as a result, they are poor at maintaining critical ecosystems.

The proposed Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act introduced by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is an effort to preserve biodiversity and reap the numerous benefits local flora provide to wildlife, human health and the environment.

Not only would it direct the Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management to study the cost-effectiveness of using native plants within their respective units, but it supports the use of native plants in rebuilding after wildfire events.

“All invasive plants love disturbances,” Tallamy told The Well News, so wildfires provide a prime opportunity for non-native species to invade (or re-invade) quickly. So while after such events “[vegetation could] come back eventually on its own… we might as well help it along if we can.”

Rebuilding with native plants after wildfires is essential since, as Tallamy says, “there are real consequences to letting non-native plants take over.”

Non-native species, that may arrive from nearby decorative plantings, on the wind, or on the clothing and shoes of visitors, can reproduce quickly and often outcompete native plants for water, nutrients and space. These invasive weeds displace native plant communities, which are slower to regenerate after a disturbance. And they don’t merely do environmental harm, invasive plants can destroy entire ecosystems, which affects human health. 

“Native plants are critical to healthy park ecosystems,” Eric Stiles, president of Friends of Acadia, a conservation organization in Maine, said. 

“We’re excited to see the Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act progressing through the Senate… Investing in programs that use native plants is a valuable way to ensure that national parks and other public lands remain vital landscapes as the climate changes.”

 Using native plants aids in earth sustainability goals with tangible advantages for humans now and in the future.

“Native plants… sequester carbon,” Tallamy reminds; they also require fewer pesticides and fertilizers and less water for maintenance. 

“And [native plants] are best at producing caterpillars,” he said. 

Those caterpillars are the foundation of a thriving ecological community that provides shelter and food for wildlife, and humans, in turn. 

“Humans depend entirely on functioning ecosystems, not just in parks, but ecosystems everywhere,” Tallamy stressed. “They are the life support we all depend on.”

Companion legislation to the proposed Senate bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif.

Kate can be reached at [email protected]

A+
a-
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • invasive species
  • National Park Service
  • native plants
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Environment

    EPA Chief Demands That Mexico Stop Tijuana Sewage From Flowing Into California

    SAN DIEGO (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Mexico must stop the flow of billions of... Read More

    SAN DIEGO (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Mexico must stop the flow of billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals from Tijuana that has polluted the Pacific Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and sickening Navy SEALs who train... Read More

    April 21, 2025
    by Jesse Zucker
    Happy Earth Day: Gardening and Health

    WASHINGTON — Imagine a Spring day, sitting in a deep squat, hands in the dirt, hearing the birds chirp and... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Imagine a Spring day, sitting in a deep squat, hands in the dirt, hearing the birds chirp and feeling the breeze on your face. You may need to swat at a few mosquitoes, but completing your task will yield beautiful flowers or fresh, nutritious... Read More

    April 13, 2025
    by Beth McCue
    Colorado Warms to Geothermal Energy, Awards $14.4M in Project Funding

    DENVER, Colo. — “The heat beneath our feet.” That’s how Colorado Gov. Jared Polis referred to geothermal energy when he... Read More

    DENVER, Colo. — “The heat beneath our feet.” That’s how Colorado Gov. Jared Polis referred to geothermal energy when he made his recent announcement of $14.4 million in funding to support geothermal heating projects in his state. The funding from the Geothermal Energy Grant Program and Geothermal... Read More

    Scientists Shielding Farming From Climate Change Need More Public Funding. But They're Getting Less

    Erin McGuire spent years cultivating fruits and vegetables like onions, peppers and tomatoes as a scientist and later director of... Read More

    Erin McGuire spent years cultivating fruits and vegetables like onions, peppers and tomatoes as a scientist and later director of a lab at the University of California-Davis. She collaborated with hundreds of people to breed drought-resistant varieties, develop new ways to cool fresh produce and find... Read More

    Residue From Human Waste Has Long Wound Up as Farm Fertilizer. Some Neighbors Hate It

    WELLSTON, Okla. (AP) — When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of... Read More

    WELLSTON, Okla. (AP) — When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she'd found a slice of heaven. In a town of fewer than 700 people, her son could... Read More

    March 19, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Settlement Reached Over Largest Gasoline Spill in Connecticut History

    WASHINGTON — A settlement has been reached in a state action over a 2022 oil tanker accident that resulted in... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A settlement has been reached in a state action over a 2022 oil tanker accident that resulted in the largest gasoline spill in Connecticut history, state Attorney General William Tong announced Wednesday morning. Under the terms of the settlement, which also covers two much... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top