Radio Script
2000

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Dandelions in Denali
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PRODUCER'S NOTE: Land management officials recently formed a statewide task force to develop a comprehensive plan to manage and control nuisance and noxious weeds. They say a strategy is needed to track the spread of non-native plants and identify local state and federal agencies responsible for controlling them.

INTRO: Alaska's Denali National Park has long been home to grizzly bears, caribou and wolves. But more recently, it's become home to one species that isn't so welcome, as Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio.

STORY: If you're paying attention—that is, not staring up at the mountains, but rather down at the roadside—it's hard not to notice them. Dandelions—their bright yellow flowers beckoning from the rocky ditches and cut banks at the entrance to Denali National Park—are thriving.

Gordon Olson is the Chief of Research and Resource Preservation with the National Park Service in Denali.

OLSON: "As long as I've been here, which is over eight years, we've had dandelions here in the park. They are here in the park headquarters area, the residential area, the hotel area. They've been there for many, many years."

But it's only been recently that this non-native plant, that many consider a nuisance weed, has appeared deep inside the park.

OLSON: It's only been in the past three to four years that we have found that they are spreading deeper into the park, along the park road corridor. They're showing up and they're showing up in places that are fairly deep into the park, still remaining in the road corridor. They're not off in the backcountry and wilderness portions of the park."

To some, the dandelions that pop up each summer are a welcome splash of springtime color. But to purists, they're weeds that threaten the park's native plant species and spoil the wilderness view. Marta Mueller is a pest management specialist with the Alaska Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

MUELLER: "I think one of the main concerns about dandelions in our national park areas and public lands is that they are fairly aggressive. They have the ability to choke out natural vegetation, all of the beautiful flowers that we expect to see and that are home and food to our native animals."

Scientists say invasive plants—and dandelions are but one of many—reduce the diversity of native plant species. They also accelerate erosion and harm habitats for native plants and wildlife.

Gordon Olson has a lot on his plate these days—everything from dealing with problem bears to keeping wayward campers from damaging the park's fragile tundra. Far down the list of issues is the problem of weeds. Still, it's something he takes seriously.

OLSON: "We've been working fairly aggressively to try to control the dandelions as best we can. For a number of years now, we've had park staff that have organized volunteer groups that have come in during the summer months and actually helped with the manual removal of the dandelions. We're not ignoring it but instead actually trying to do something about it."

As persistent as the weed pullers are, dandelions are even more so. Recently, dandelions began showing up at Wonder Lake, 90 miles inside the park along the park's only road.

Wonder Lake is a picturesque spot famous for its spectacular views of rolling tundra with Mt. McKinley towering in the background. So what are the odds that future photographs will feature not native tundra but fields of dandelions?

OLSON: "I'd have to temper that image a bit. Frankly, I think you'd have to work very hard to get a photo like that. Quite literally, the dandelions are within just a few feet of the road's edge and on the road's edge. So, if you're taking a photograph of the landscape with the mountain in the background, you'd have to deliberately try to find a place where there are dandelions, and then make sure the photograph includes a portion of the road. Otherwise, most of your photographs are going to come away without that kind of image. I don't want you to walk away with the feeling that there are dandelions everywhere, and that they're just taking over."

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

For more information about the dandelions and other invasive plants, visit these web pages:

Invasive Weeds

Alaska Cooperative Extension Service

Denali National Park

Don't Give Weeds A Break (Environmental News Network)

Invasive Weeds Threaten Healthy Ecosystems (Environmental News Network)

Thanks to the following individuals for help preparing this script:

Marta Mueller, Integrated Pest Management Technician
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Cooperative Extension Service
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-8155
PH: 907-474-2428
Email: ftmrm@uaf.edu

Gordon Olson, Chief of Research and Resource Preservation
Denali National Park & Preserve
P.O. Box 9
Denali Park, AK 99755
Phone: 907-683-2294
Email: Gordon_Olson.@nps.gov