Nature: Invasion of The Habitat

Snatchers Exotic plants and animals are ruining the nation's wilderness

By the end of the year, well over 10 million people will have traveled to America's national parks to see the few tiny patches of land that are still as pristine as they were before Columbus landed, or so most believe. In fact, the National Park Service is coping with a growing problem that is partly nature's doing but largely the result of civilization's subtle intrusions. Far from being islands of primeval beauty, parks from Hawaii to North Carolina are being overrun with nonnative plants and animals, virtually all of them introduced, inadvertently or on purpose, by man. These "exotic threats"...

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