Aliens Among Us
By: Dale West, Castlegar News
Beware. Alien invaders are in our midst — in the midst of our forests and fields, along the sides of our roads, maybe in our backyards.
These aliens are non-native plants, brought to our area, sometimes accidentally, sometimes purposely. They have names like purple loosestrife, common tansy and spotted knapweed. These invaders are highly competitive, producing large numbers of seeds, forming deep taproots or flowering early. Without their natural predators back where they came from, they spread rapidly.
Invasive alien plants choke out native plant populations. Native animals don’t eat them, so infestations of alien plants can impact wildlife habitat and rangeland. Agriculturally, they strike the farmer where it hurts most, in the pocketbook, competing with desirable crops.
Who ya gonna call? Where are the Men in Black when you need them?
No need to go Hollywood for help as the Central Kootenay Invasive Plant Committee is much closer to home. Formed a year ago when a group of concerned local citizens, land managers and government agencies got together to see if the problem could be tackled with a co-ordinated collaborative approach. The idea took off, and now the group focuses on prevention, early detection and some eradication. “We don’t actually do control, we co-ordinate the people who do,” says Juliet Craig, committee co-ordinator.
Prevention is the first course of action, says Craig. Don’t let a plant into the area. Yellow starthistle is such a plant. It isn’t in Canada, but it is near the border, Craig explains. “If it comes in it will take over agricultural areas in a flash.”
The next step is to eradicate early, catch and stop it from spreading as soon as it arrives. Some invasive plants are presently only in small areas, like rush skeletonweed in Crescent Valley and field scabious is only in the Salmo area. “If we can keep those plants where they are, we will be miles ahead.”
Public education is the key to stopping the advance of invasive weeds. With the help of a $2,000 donation from Columbia Power Corporation the CKIP committee will be alerting the public to the presence of invasive weeds over the summer with small temporary signs along roadways. “We’re making small signs which say, ‘Did you know this is invasive?’ and we’ll be putting them out throughout the summer on different plants that are in flower along the major roadways along the Castlegar-Salmo loop,” says Craig.
“So when people see a flush of purple, and think to themselves. ‘Look at these pretty wildflowers,’ they’ll know better.”
Added on February 27th, 2006 - Return to Special Features