MOOSE JAW – Chuck Ward says he’s done all he could do to control the field bindweed that has infested one quarter of his land.
But the Rural Municipality of Terrell didn’t think so, and after several years of trying to reach agreement with Ward on how the noxious weed could be controlled or eradicated, council passed a bylaw earlier this year to take control of the quarter.
“To me, it’s a sad situation,” said reeve Owen Labuik. “I hated to go to that point.”
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The bylaw is possible under the provincial Noxious Weeds Act, but the provision hasn’t been used in years, if ever.
The act has been around since 1909 and empowers municipal governments to appoint a weed inspector. It also authorizes municipalities to enter into agreements with owners or occupants of land infested with leafy spurge, field bindweed, Russian knapweed, toadflax or hoary cress to destroy and eradicate the weeds. The agreements specify how this will be done and who will do it.
If an agreement can’t be reached, council can pass a bylaw authorizing a weed inspector or other person to take possession of the land, but not buildings, and take the necessary steps to control the weeds. The RM can have control of the land for up to five years.
The landowner receives any profit over expenses and the land is returned after five years. The owner can appeal the bylaw to the minister of agriculture.
In Ward’s case, agreement couldn’t be reached and the bylaw was passed. He appealed but the appeal was denied.
“This is going to affect our livelihood for the next five years,” he said.
Ward, who owns his own construction company, farms three quarters about 70 kilometres south of Moose Jaw.
He said the field bindweed has been on the land for about 50 years – brought by a current councillor’s father when he imported feed from Manitoba.
Bindweed is a perennial sometimes compared to morning glory because its arrow-shaped leaves and white or pink bell-shaped flowers are similar.
It reproduces by seed and creeping roots. Roots can penetrate to a depth of six metres and can store a food supply that will last two or three years.
Saskatchewan Agriculture recommends both chemical and intensive tillage control.
Provincial weed specialist Clark Brenzil said there are 40 noxious weeds listed in the act, but the five included in the bylaw provision are singled out because of their persistence.
“Your normal everyday control measures don’t do a very good job of managing them,” he said.
Bindweed is even more difficult, he said.
“It has a hard-coated seed that can survive in the soil for up to 50 years,” he said. “The key thing is to try to prevent spread.”
Ward said he’s done that. He cleans his equipment after leaving the infested area and doesn’t use the grain from that field for seed. He said he shares equipment and seed with his father and his father’s land doesn’t have bindweed so control must have been achieved.
The RM has also stepped in and sprayed Ward’s land at times.
Ward said other landowners have problems with bindweed but the RM didn’t take over their land.
“They’re allowed to treat people differently,” he said.
He thought they were negotiating an agreement to gain control of the problem on his land when the bylaw was passed.
“I don’t think they were interested in negotiating.”
Ward added that he doesn’t believe complete eradication is possible. If it was, it would have been done a long time ago, he said. He also doesn’t believe the weed inspector’s claim that he has eradicated bindweed in other RMs.
Brenzil agreed eradication isn’t likely.
“With a management program and appropriate measures, it can be brought under control and not eradicated by any stretch,” he said.
He added that producers who have bindweed problems should consider cereals and glyphosate-tolerant canola for that land because there are no adequate control options in most of the pulse crops.
He recommended fallow, followed by a cereal, then glyphosate-tolerant canola with a double application of chemical to pick up weed seedlings.
