Welcome Back to Love Your Bay Week 2023!
Today’s topic is about another invasive species that has spread into the Bay of Islands – Invasive Phragmites.
Learn About Invasive Phragmites
We all need to be on the lookout for Invasive Phragmites.
Want to learn more? Think you may have it on your shoreline? Need help trying to identify it and distinguish it from native Phragmites? Need assistance trying to control it?
Invasive Phragmites – Best Management Practices in Ontario
The Ontario Invasive Plant Council has recently published updated Best Management Practices for the control of Invasive Phragmites. Click on the link below to download the pdf.
Here’s a picture of a small stand of Invasive Phragmites in the Whitefish River at Whitefish Falls. BICA volunteers have been cutting this stand and trying to control the spread for several years.
Want to see what it looks like? Take a trip up the Whitefish River, past the Red Dog, towards the highway, just before the river turns left towards the Falls. You’ll see the distinctive blue-green leaves on the right side of the riverbank.
Recommended control methods have evolved over the past 10 years. Based on the updated Best Management Practices issued by the Ontario Invasive Plant Council, the BICA Board has decided to stop the annual Phragmites cut on this stand on the Whitefish River. The updated practice does not recommend cutting the plant above grade. On its own, it is not an effective control method and can encourage new growth. Instead, we will lobby government to use new updated practices that now recommend the use of other control methods, including the use herbicides that are now approved for use near the water.
Bay Of Islands Community Association