Shenandoah National Park boasts incredible biological diversity, with a rich array of native plants and animals that call our park home. Intact, diverse native habitats are our park’s best buffer against the effects of climate change.
Protecting native habitat is challenging work, especially with the barrage of fast-spreading, exotic insects and plants that riddle our park. Insects like the hemlock woolly adelgid which have killed 95% of Shenandoah’s native hemlock trees. Trees that are a vital food source and home for numerous native bird and wildlife species. Non-native plants like garlic mustard, tree of heaven, and mile-a-minute vine are choking out native plants in areas of our park, weakening forest health and resilience.
Through your philanthropy, we can intensify our work to control these threats to forest health. Our goal is to provide funding for field crews undertaking the labor-intensive work of controlling the invading non-native species, replanting native plants in areas that have been devastated by these exotic pests, saving our remaining hemlocks and preventing significant mortality of other native tree species. We are also raising funds to support a Volunteer Coordinator to manage the myriad requests the park receives from citizens who want to help with this critical work. Please consider helping us fund this effort.