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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • FEBRUARY 2017
Council steps up fight against invasive knotweed
by CHRIS YATES
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Northwest Invasive Plant Council (NWIPC) manager Penni Adams of Prince George says plants such as knotweed varieties that grow like weeds and are not natural to their environment result in costly damage to town and
countryside across the province. The NWIPC oversees invasive plant control from Hope to the Yukon border, including Haida Gwaii, an area of 37,642,600 hectares, of which 854,013 hectares are in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Its work affects towns, municipalities and regional districts. From its inception
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in 1992 as a weed-control committee to the formation of a not-for-profit organization in 2004, NWIPC has evolved into a council with financial support from government and industry players with a vested interest in mitigating the destructive potential of invasive plants.
At a council meeting in December, board members and community representatives discussed a variety of issues including a recent decision by the Council of the Haida Nation to use the chemical glyphosate to treat a Himalayan knotweed infestation across the Islands.
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) ecosystems biologist Alvin Cober is based in Haida Gwaii and told the board that he, along with FLNRO invasive plant specialist Denise McLean from Prince George, has been working with Haida councillors for most of 10 years attempting to
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control Himalayan knotweed. Despite more benign efforts such as physically cutting and mowing the plants, the problem continued to escalate. In August, a resolution put forward at the fall assembly of the Council of the Haida Nation by two Skidegate band councillors to approve the use of the herbicide in Haida Gwaii.
“Invasive knotweed plants are now found in all the settled communities and are crowding out native food and medicinal plants and are being spread along road systems into the forested areas…” states the resolution.
Cober says he thinks a successful demonstration patch in Skidegate Village convinced
councillors to take the matter to a vote. He also notes, following the vote, that a patch of knotweed in
Skidegate that had been cut back
several times and was still producing green leaves was treated with glyphosate. This winter, the ministry intends to hire and train people to apply the herbicide as part of a multi- community program beginning this spring. There are four knotweed species. According to the NWIPC website [
nwipc.org], their density and root systems destroy stream banks, push out harmless species that are natural to the environment and even pose a threat to drains and concrete foundations.
People are invited to report invasive plant infestations of any kind directly to NWIPC (1-866-44WEEDS or
info@nwipc.org). There is also a Report-A-Weed application for smart phones that can be found at [
reportaweedbc.ca].
Cober and McLean say the Council of the Haida Nation decision is a progressive move in the attempt to stop the knotweed infestations in their communities.
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