Saugeen Shores town staff are making progress in the battle against the invasive weed phragmites.
In response to a question on the matter from Councillor Cheryl Grace, Director of Community Services and Operations Kristan Schrider explained, “I believe that our approach has been quite proactive.”
She explained, “Each year, if we started at 100 per cent, and then we’ve knocked it down each year, and each year— the last remaining 15- 20 per cent, which is probably where we are right now from when we started.”
Schrider says that 15-20 per cent is the hardest portion to conquer. “So we continue to spray,” says Schrider.
She noted, “We have been battling phragmites for years now,” adding, “We’ve done it a couple of different ways, we spray, we have licensed pesticide qualified staff to put applications on where we’re permitted to and then also when required– when we’re not able to spray near waterways or in water, then we’ve cut them by hand as well.”
Schrider says, “There are certain areas in the town, probably the south end of Port Elgin which we struggle with now, a little bit.”
She says it has more phragmites than along the other shoreline, but she says staff continue to be proactive.
Schrider says, “Residents can contact the town office if they see any phragmites along ditch lines or along the waterfront that should be brought to our attention.”
Councillor Grace noted, “It just chokes out our native species and wrecks habitat for — wildlife. That’s great that we continue to work on that. It’s a never ending battle.”
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) says on its website, there are invasive phragmites and there are native phragmites.
The NCC says invasive phragmites grows in stands that can be very dense, with up to 200 stems per square metre, crowding out other species. It can grow to 18 feet tall and is commonly found in ditches. It has tan or beige stems, large, dense seed heads and blue-green leaves.
Native phragmites are not as dense, not usually seen in ditches and are frequently mixed with other plant species. They usually have reddish-brown stems, yellow-green leaves and smaller seed heads.
You can find pictures of the difference between invasive and native phragmites here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/phragmites