вЂ“ Become aware of the differences between native and non-native plants and the potential for invasive species damaging native ecosystems. The impact of non-native invasive plant species on natural biological diversity, in numerous examples around the world, have reduced available habitat for native species and/or eliminated associated native species altogether. Areas such as Cranberry Glades, Cranesville Swamp, shale barrens, limestone glades, and riverine marshes, to name a few, are West Virginia examples. Natural areas are valuable part of the global landscape from which future generations can continue to learn. The natural communities themselves are often rare enough or of such quality that society recognizes the value of conserving them. Natural areas often support rare, threatened and endangered species of plants, animals, and fungi. Healthy natural areas have seemingly endless interrelationships among animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, and the nonliving part of the ecosystems, providing habitat for these species. Natural areas are generally areas of limited development where natural occurring, functioning ecosystems are supporting the greatest amount of natural biological diversity the nonliving resources (soil, sunlight, minerals, etc.) of that area can support. In many areas these plants have overwhelmed the native plants and animals.вЂќ Species that have flourished and spread on their own, only after people transported them across barriers they could not otherwise surmount, are considered non-natives. Humans have vastly accelerated the movement of plants, carrying thousands of species that could not have crossed natural barriers like oceans, mountain ranges and deserts, to new areas. In the normal course of events, the arrival of new species may be the result of a single catastrophic event like a hurricane, or of gradual change over thousands of years. John Randall (The Nature Conservancy) and Janet Marinelli (Brooklyn Botanic Garden), point out in their handbook Invasive Plants: Weeds of the Global Garden (Brooklyn Botanic Garden Publications, 1996), вЂњNew species move in as the climate changes and as soils build up and become richer, or erode and become less fertile.

Change in plant communities is a natural part of life. Generally, the native plant species of West Virginia are those that were part of plant communities when North America was first settled by Europeans. These aggressive вЂњweedsвЂќ are non-native invasive plants, sometimes referred to as exotic pest plants. Recently, increasing concern has been expressed that non-native plant species are invading and changing natural areas. In the worst cases, they radically altered the ecosystem processes, altered natural areas, and displaced native species.Д¬oncerned citizens have long been sounding alarms about the effects of pollution and misuse of land on our native plant and animal communities. These species have reproduced rapidly, forming stands that exclude nearly all other plant species. From such situations, a relatively small number of invasive species have moved into natural areas. Invasive plants often get started in areas disturbed by such human activities as road and trail building, timbering, mining, and other tasks that remove native vegetation, disturb the soil, or dramatically change the amount of sunlight or moisture that strikes the land. But a small percentage has spread from where they first became established, and have become serious threats to wetlands, shale barrens, prairies, glades and other rare ecosystems. Many of the exotic plants we have introduced to our landscape by intention or accident have been beneficial to us and have had no unfortunate ecological impacts on natural communities.

People have been moving EarthвЂ™s plants from place to place for centuries.

North america non native game species