These non-native wild hogs have caused problems in the mountains because of rooting and wallowing which uproots plants. These non-specialists consume various organisms and plants including the "delicious" Jordon salamanders who are endemic to the mountains.
A non-native species occurs outside of its natural range as a result of deliberate or accidental introduction to an area. They compete for habitat and food with native species and often take over an entire ecosystem. Non-natives seem pre-adapted to an area because of similarities to their native habitats and the habitat to which they have been introduced.
There are 380 species of non-native plants including kudzu (pictured above), mimosa, and oriental bittersweet. These species usually move into areas of recent disturbance and are normally aggressive competitors to native plants. They have the ability to interbreed with native species and/or out-compete native species.
They came to the U.S. in the 1920's and first colonized in the Mid-Atlantic states. They feed on the Carolina Hemlock and usually disperse by birds but can also travel with wind movement and hitch-hikers or infested horticulture material. They feed at the base of the needles and cause death of the Hemlock tree inside of a year.
The National Park Service works to control or eradicate non-native species in order to preserve native specie survival or park resources. These species can be removed with non-toxic herbicides and pesticides. Other methods of regulation include trapping and shooting of large animals like the wild hog. Their detrimental effects to the ecosystem are closely monitored. Other natural barriers are placed in streams to separate populations of different species like the brook trout from the two non-native trout species. For more information click the link below:
