Images of Native Prairie Plants
Marion County has developed an Integrated Vegetation Management Program that calls for the increase of native plant populations, distribution, and diversity. This will be accomplished through an innovative seed propagation and distribution program, the use of native plants for erosion control and vegetation management, and the restoration of pre-European settlement ecosystems within the County Park system.
Marion County has also adopted noxious weed controls into its vegetation mangement program. State-listed noxious weeds (invasive, non-native plants) reduce biodiversity, degrade wildife habitat, impact area farmers, and often overgrow threatened populations of native plants. By addressing these weed populations through an integrated approach, Marion County intends to reduce the threat they pose to the economic and ecological health of the region.