Non-Native Intruders

Non-native intruders are grasses and weeds brought to the area in any number of ways: seeds attached to wildlife, boats or clothing; plants brought from other parts of the country and many other avenues of transport.

Non-native intruders are highly adaptive so they grow prolifically choking natural marsh/prairie growth while providing little or no nutritional support to the environment.

To control these weeds and grasses, the wildlife refuge's seek to employ methods that don’t harm the native plants.

Alligatorweed: This free-floating plant with lance-shaped leaves and white flowers grows densely in fresh-water rapidly clogging open ponds and waterways and must be carefully controlled. Alligatorweed does provide forage for deer, nutria and cattle while herons and egrets come to feed on the small crustaceans living in the tangled roots.