Provincial strategy needed to control invasive phragmites, ERCA

The Essex Region Conservation Authority is calling for a province-wide strategy to control the spread of phragmites, an invasive plant that has been plaguing southwestern Ontario for years.

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Phragmies, is a tall, reedy plant that is popping up on shorelines, rural fields, along major highways and even in the middle of cities and towns.

"Right now, there's no mechanism that allows for effective control," said Kevin Money, with the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA). "The best way to deal with this is unfortunately a herbicide, and we don't even have access in Canada to have that herbicide. We can't even spray the most effective kinds of herbicide to kill this plant."

He admits it will be very expensive to undertake, but left untouched, believes phragmites will kill what's left of Ontario's wetlands.

ERCA said a phragmites control project can range between $800 to $1,000 per hectare.

Tom Preney with the Ojibway Nature Centre said the plant can cause major problems.

"It creates a monoculture of the plant, so it kills off all the surrounding vegetation, so we lose that diversity in the ecosystem where diversity is really important for a lot of plants and animals," said Preney.

Preney said phragmites seems to be expanding their territory beyond marshy areas, even growing on dry hillsides.

"I noticed that a lot of people that are probably not familiar with what phragmites is, they pick it in the fall to put up decorations around their house to set a fall setting," he said. "Transporting it would be one that I don't recommend people doing because the seeds disperse through the air and through the water."