Invasive Plant Cover - Waterton Lakes - Conservation and Restoration Project (Fescue)

Only 2.1% of the Foothills Parkland ecoregion is protected within any federal or provincial park in Canada. Waterton Lakes National Park (WLNP) is the only national park where this scenic and biologically diverse ecoregion is protected. Scarcity of fire and lack of bison grazing have contributed to encroachment of aspen forest and homogenization of the fescue grassland. This area also has the highest occurrence of non-native invasive plants. As part of WLNP's Conservation and Restoration (CORE) project (Rescue the Fescue), an early detection rapid response system for new high priority invasive plant infestations has been implemented, along with an inventory and control protocols for known infestations. A monitoring program is in place to assess if we are meeting our goal of a 10% reduction in the cover of priority invasive non-native plants by 2019. Measurements are based on a visual assessment of the percent foliar cover of each species in the plot.