The picture above shows a western prairie fringed orchid in full bloom. The large white flowers generally appear in mid-June and the plants continue to flower until late July. The plants grow up to three feet in height and can support up to 20 flowers per plant.

by Janet Hansen

Someone on an all-terrain vehicle has reportedly used some type of herbicide to kill prairie orchids in an area located just west of McLeod in Sandoun Township of Ransom County.

In mid-July, biologists hired by the National Heritage Program, under the National Parks and Recreation Department, were sent to chart the status of the western prairie fringed orchid on the Sheyenne National Grasslands. In the process, they came across approximately 25 orchid plants in a ditch along a township road located just outside the grasslands. 

The plants, located near one of the test plots being monitored by the biologists, caught the group’s attention because they were wilting. The heads, which had been in full flower, were drooping and the plants were obviously dying. Upon closer inspection it was noted that there were all-terrain vehicle tracks leading from a township road to each individual plant in the ditch. The plants appeared to have been sprayed with some type of herbicide.

The “platanthera praeclara,” better known as the “western prairie fringed orchid” has been classified as a threatened species, due to diminishing grasslands habitat. One of the few large areas of native grassland which still supports the growth of the plant is the Sheyenne National Grasslands west of Lisbon. Because of the rarity of the plant, the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department spends a great deal of money each year monitoring the plant.

Unfortunately, because the affected plants were outside the perimeter of the national grasslands, the committee did not report their findings immediately. They did, however, include it in their report. Unfortunately, the report was not turned in until late August. When Park and Recreation Department officials noticed the report of the spraying incident, they began an investigation into the vandalism. 

Bryan Stotts, Sheyenne National Grassland District Manager, Lisbon, was contacted at that time. “I went out to check on the plants,” said Stotts. “I found it strange that, in an area with large patches of leafy spurge and thistle, someone would have deliberately targeted the orchids, but that appeared to be the case. If someone had been spraying the roadside and happened to kill the orchids in the process, that would have been one thing, but to leave the noxious weeds and purposefully target the orchids is definitely an act of vandalism.”

Stotts went on to say that because the vandalism occurred on private land rather than government land, it “dealt us (the National Forest Service, for which he works) out of the game.” He went on to say that he believed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was conducting an investigation into the incident.

Jeff Towner, field supervisor for the North Dakota field office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, explained that the time which elapsed between the actual spraying of the plants and when the report was actually turned in has made the investigation difficult. “We are in the process of contacting owners of the property on which the vandalism occurred as well as adjacent property owners, explaining to them why destroying the orchid is not advisable. We are hoping to get their cooperation in monitoring the area to keep further incidents from happening.”

“The western fringed prairie orchid is a native prairie plant,” Towner explained. “It has always been rare, since it needs wet soil conditions to flourish. The plant population goes up and down, depending upon rainfall and soil conditions. It is not the type of plant to invade areas, such as noxious weeds such as leafy spurge are prone to do. It is, instead, a showy flowering plant requiring just the right environment to grow.”

“Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the ultimate goal has been to monitor rare species of plants and help their populations to increase so that they can eventually be taken off the threatened or endangered list,” Towner explained. “Unfortunately, if people choose to wantonly destroy such threatened species, it will take longer to accomplish that goal. Since the 1980s the Fish and Wildlife Service has transferred a total of $225,000.00 in taxpayers money to the Parks and Recreation Department to help monitor the orchid. It is a shame to pay for the collection of information about these plants if someone is going to wantonly kill them.”