Title: Say Goodbye to Non Native Invasive Plants
Time Frame: 30 minutes for Preparation; 60 minutes for Action; 30 minutes for Reflection
Lesson Overview:
Students will learn what non-native invasive (NNI) plants are and why they are a threat to
biodiversity and to ecosystem services. Students will identify and remove selected NNI plants
appropriately, and reflect on their SSL action.
Teacher Background:
Background (adapted from “Non-Native Invasive Plants,” Carole Bergmann, Forest
Ecologist M-NCPPC):
Most plants introduced to our country from different regions of the world are beautiful and
productive additions. Some, however, have become a problem to the environment: in their new
“foreign” habitat there are no animals that eat them or diseases that kill them! Known as nonnative, exotic, or alien invasive plants, they spread unchecked because their natural controls-disease and predators--were left behind in their land of origin. As a consequence, these plants
have become invasive and destructive to the local habitat.
Some non-native invasives (NNIs) were brought here by mistake in soil, ship ballast, or crop
seed. Most were intentionally introduced into our country because they provided ornamental
landscape material, quick-growing and pest-free erosion control, visual screening, windbreaks, or
food for wildlife. Today they cost agriculture, industry, and government billions of dollars a year
to control.
Invasive plants threaten our native plants and animals. Our native wildlife evolved over
thousands of years to depend on native plants for food and shelter. With the rampancy and
aggression of non-native invasive species, native wildlife does not have sufficient time for new
adaptations to evolve. Non-native invasive plants are successful and dangerous because of their
ability to colonize, out-compete, and exclude native vegetation. Mechanisms to do so include:
rampant growth rates, extra-long growing seasons, ability to block light from other plants,
monopolies of nutrients and water, prolific and multiple means of reproduction, seeds that stay
viable in the soil for many years, and toxins in roots or leaves that stunt other plants.
In summary, nonnative invasive plants (NNI) threaten the healthy ecosystem in our watershed.
They outcompete our native plant species, and replace them in the ecosystem. Loss of plant
species native to our area negatively impacts the native animal populations that feed on them and
depend on them for habitat. Thus, NNI plants impact biodiversity, and reduce the amount of
ecological services provided by the organisms in our watershed.
Wineberry
*All months
* Native to Japan, Korea,
China
*Introduced in 1890 to
combine with raspberry and
blackberry species
*3 heart-shaped leaves
white underneath, stem has
reddish hairs and small
spines
*Deer don't eat it and birds
spread the seeds
Mile-a-Minute
*April and May
*Native to Asia
*Stems are armed with
curved barbs which are
also present on the
underside of the leaf
blades
*Can grow up to 6 inches a
day, scrambling over
shrubs and other
vegetation, blocking the
foliage of covered plants
from available light, and
reducing their ability to
photosynthesize
*The weight and pressure
of the vine causes
distortion of stems and
branches of covered plants
Garlic Mustard
*March and April
*Native to Europe
*One of the few nonnative plants capable of
invading and dominating
forest understory
*Tolerant of low light
levels, has high seed
production and able to
spread rapidly
*Competes with native
spring woodland plants
such as spring beauty,
trout lily, jack-in-thepulpit, violets, golden
ragwort
*The deer don’t eat it!
Stilt Grass
*April, May, and June
*Native to Japan, Korea,
China, Malaysia and
India
*Invades and alters
disturbed soils in sun or
shade
*Produces seed banks
which stay viable in the
soil for years
*Came here because it
was used in packaging as
a natural bubble wrap,
AKA “Japanese Packing
Grass”
Enduring Understanding & Essential Questions:
Enduring Understanding:
Natural resources need protection and conservation in a given environment.
Biodiversity is a natural resource.
Essential Question:
How can people help maintain and increase biodiversity in their local environment?
Next Generation Science Standards:
Science and Engineering
Practices
Engaging in Argument from
Evidence
Evaluate competing design
solutions based on jointly
developed and agreed-upon
design criteria.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Crosscutting Concepts
Interdependent Relationships
in Ecosystems
Stability and Change
In any ecosystem, organisms and
populations with similar
requirements for food, water
oxygen, or other resources may
compete with each other for
limited resources, access to
which consequently constrains
their growth and reproduction.
Small changes in one part of a
system might cause large
changes in another part.
Biodiversity describes the variety
of species found in Earth’s
terrestrial and oceanic
ecosystems. The completeness or
integrity of an ecosystem’s
biodiversity is often used as a
measure of its health.
Performance Expectation
MS-LS2-5
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
(Clarification Statement: Example of ecosystem services could include water purification,
nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could
include scientific, economic, and social considerations.)
Maryland Environmental Literacy Standards
STANDARD 1 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
The student will investigate and analyze environmental issues ranging from local to global perspectives and develop
and implement a local action project that protects, sustains, or enhances the natural environment.
Topic A: Environmental Issue Investigation
Topic B. Action Component
Indicator 1: Use recommendation(s) to develop and implement an environmental action plan.
Indicator 2: Communicate, evaluate and justify personal views on environmental issue and alternate ways
to address them.
Indicator 3: Analyze the effectiveness of the action plan in terms of achieving the desired outcomes.
STANDARD 4 POPULATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS
The student will use physical, chemical, biological, and ecological concepts to analyze and explain the
interdependence of humans and organisms in populations, communities and ecosystems.
Topic B: Population Dynamics
Indicator 1: Analyze the growth or decline of populations and identify a variety of responsible factors.
Topic C: Community and Ecosystem Dynamics
Indicator 1: Explain how the interrelationships and interdependencies of organisms and populations
contribute to the dynamics of communities and ecosystems.
5E Lesson
Engage: (Preparation)
Ask students: “How can a plant “escape” from where it is? If it can
escape, can a plant “invade?” Are there “bad” plants?
Discussion should include that plants are beneficial – they are all
producers and part of healthy ecosystem, but there are plants that can
have some serious negative impacts on humans and on the environment
in which we live. Plants might cause allergies, poison people if eaten,
and some even take over entire habitats crowding out all the native
plants. Today, we are going to do something about that last type of
plant that is growing out of control – the non-native invasive. It is a
serious threat to our local environment.
Explain: (Preparation)
Option 1: Use the NNI PowerPoint.
Option 2: Discuss and provide information: (See Teacher Background)
What is meant by a “non-native invasive plant?”
Why are such plants harmful to a local ecosystem?
Why is removal of NNI plants beneficial to the environment?
Demonstration and Modeling:
Identify at least one non-native invasive plant
Show how to remove it.
Reminder: Explain and show what poison ivy looks like.
Explore: (Action)
1. Divide students into groups and assign each group a specific area
within the larger removal zone. Share the identification guides with
the groups.
2. Review the removal techniques and instructions.
Removal Tips
 Pick EVERY visible plant with stems
 It's better to get every plant from one place than to get most
plants from two places. Leaving a plant is like sowing a hundred
seeds.
 If stems frequently break at the root, wiggle the stem before
pulling. Search a bit for a broken root and remove.
 Be prepared to pick with little talking - it takes concentration to
get every plant!
 When stems grow closely in loose soil, gather several with one
hand motion.
3. Return equipment at the end of the session! Account for all
equipment and return to the proper location.
Preparation Notes
for the Teacher:
Before you come to OE:
1. Meet with your
coordinator ahead of
time to become
familiar with the NNI
students will be
removing and how it
will be removed.
2.
Introduce SSL using
the SSL power point,
and introduce this
NNI Removal project
to your students using
our OEEP SSL
PowerPoint (Explain)
3.
Provide safety
guidelines to students
about poison ivy:
 Wear long
sleeves and long
pants
 Remember
“leaves of three,
let it be" is a
good rule of
thumb
 Leave hairy vines
alone, too!
 Poison ivy is
active in winter –
avoid hairy vines
At Outdoor Ed:
Gather equipment:
1. Carts for transporting
the pulled weeds, if
necessary for the
selected NNI: located
near greenhouse
2. Shovels, clippers,
saws and pitchforks
that might be
necessary for
removing selected
NNI: located in
locked cage next to
greenhouse
3. Work Gloves
Evaluate: (Reflection)
Prepare students for their writing by asking them to talk with an
elbow partner about:
 What did you learn about non native invasive plants that you
did not know before?
 How did this SSL work help the environment? (i.e. what
need did your service address)
 Who or what benefitted?
Have students write their answers to the following SSL form
questions in their notebooks:
1. What did you do?
2. What need did your service address?
3. Who benefitted from your service?
4. What did you learn about yourself?
5. How was this experience connected to something you learned in
a class at school? (For example, English, Mathematics, Science,
Social Studies, Arts, Physical Education, Health, Foreign
Language, etc.)
Determine how you will
group students and which
adults will be responsible
for each group.
Walk adults for each
group to selected locations
for NNI removal and
demonstrate techniques to
identify the plant and how
to remove it. This must
be done sometime before
the class is scheduled to
begin.