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White Sands National Park Nonnative Species
The oryx, or gemsbok, a large African antelope, has had a large impact on White Sands National Monument, primarily due to its reproductive success and feeding habits.
Tamarix, or salt cedar, is an invading species of plant that is established in all but the driest sites of the Monument. Eight species of Tamarix were first brought to North America in the 1800s from southern Europe or the eastern Mediterranean region.
Other nonnative species include:
Russian thistle (tumbleweed)
African Rue - First introduced near Deming, N.M., in the 1920s. It has since spread from Texas to Washington.
Malta (yellow) starthistle - First introduced into California in the early 1900s, it has spread from the Arizona-New Mexico border to White Sands National Monument in less than 5 years.
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.