The National Park Service (NPS) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a Great Lakes Invasive Plant Management Plan (IPMP) for ten parks in the Great Lakes region, including Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Some of the others: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Voyageurs National Park.

“Proposed treatment measures identified in the Great Lakes IPMP/EA are based on sound integrated pest management,” NPS said in a statement released on Thursday. “Integrated pest management is defined as a decision-making process that coordinates knowledge of pest biology, the environment, and available technology to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage, by cost-effective means, while posing the least possible risk to people and park resources. Integrated pest management can also include reducing the risk of new introductions, determining acceptable levels of infestation, use of multiple techniques for control, and continued monitoring and management.”

When completed, this Great Lakes IPMP/EA would provide strategies for park staff to manage terrestrial and emergent wetland invasive plants on both NPS and NPS-managed lands within the designated boundaries of the ten Great Lakes parks.

Another primary goal of the IPMP/EA is to serve as a programmatic NEPA document for invasive plant management within each of the ten parks, so that future invasive plant activities addressed by this EA would not require additional analysis under NEPA for park-specific actions.

The Great Lakes IPMP/EA is now available for public review and comment. Please visit the NPS website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ipmpea

 to retrieve the EA, or view a hardcopy at any of the ten Great Lakes parks headquarters.

Comments should be submitted electronically using the “Open for Comment” link at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ipmpea

Comments may also be mailed to: Great Lakes IPMP, c/o Kleinfelder, 300 E. Mineral Avenue, Suite 7, Littleton, CO 80122-2655.

Comments must be received by, time-stamped, and/or post-marked by 5 p.m. (EST) May 15.

For more information, please visit the project website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ipmpea

or contact Carmen Chapin at (715) 682-0631 ext. 230.

Posted 5/4/2012