RED DEER Ñ Invasive weeds have devastating effects on real estate values, as well as the health of forests, wetlands and agriculture, yet public awareness remains low.
“People in B.C. didn’t see the problem with invasive plants. They thought of them as pretty flowers. They didn’t look beyond the dandelions on the lawn,” said agrologist Edi Torrans. She is involved with the Invasive Plant Council of British Columbia where strategies are being formed to control problem weeds.
Invasive alien species are plants, animals or micro-organisms that have spread outside their natural habitats to threaten native species. These include Dutch elm disease, purple loosestrife, gypsy moths, starlings and leafy spurge.
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Shafeek Ali of Alberta Agriculture said the best way to control these weeds is through co-ordinated plans involving a number of groups and individuals.
“If we don’t have the grassroots people taking ownership and carrying it on, we will not be successful. Weeds do not go away,” he said.
“There are a lot of strategic plans around but I haven’t seen any plan kill a weed yet.”
Some jurisdictions like B.C. have problems where a number of different groups use the same piece of land, said Torrans at the annual meeting of the Alberta Invasive Plants Council held in Red Deer April 13.
While some groups such as local ranchers’ associations might see problems, other groups, like environmental organizations, oppose herbicide use to kill the unwanted species. As well, conflicts may arise between jurisdictions, landowners and government departments over who is responsible for weed control.
“Weeds don’t know boundaries so we need to make sure each side of the fence is being looked after,” Torrans said.
Some of B.C.’s greatest weed threats are found on crown land.
Another problem for the province is that all valley bottoms and corridors have problems with noxious weeds. However, the noxious weed act is out of date and some invasive plants are not on the list, making it difficult to issue notices for control.
In Alberta, a biodiversity monitoring program is planned to measure plant populations at 1,656 sites across the province by 2007.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t protect it,” said Chris Shank, a government official in the sustainable resource development branch.
The Alberta plan is to establish the monitoring sites and return every five years to track changes in species ranging from single cell organisms to birds, plants and animals on land and water. The information is expected to be stored in a central data base.
So far, 83 sites have been examined in the boreal zone and foothills regions. Among 385 plant species located, 26 were alien on half the sites surveyed. Dandelions were found on 42 percent of sites.
Alien species were most commonly found in moist sites where land was disturbed.
Mike Undershultz with the sustainable resource development branch said although invasive species are recognized as a threat to biodiversity, it is hard to provide a financial assessment of damage.
In the United States, annual impacts from invasive species are estimated at $37 billion including cost to control and loss of crops or habitat.
Undershultz said Alberta losses are roughly $1 billion annually for cost of management and losses to biodiversity.
Environment Canada is developing a national strategy to control these species. The department is also talking to its U.S. counterparts to develop a North American approach to invasive species.
