What are invasive plants and why are they a problem?
Invasive plants are species that are able to quickly establish and flourish in new areas due to a competitive ability over other vegetation. Invasive plants are non-native and can quickly form extensive and dense infestations. Infestations in the natural environment can threaten biodiversity, reduce forage for wildlife and reduce habitat for rare or endangered species. Certain invasive plants also have undesirable traits such as toxicity to animals and humans or they can restrict recreation due to forming extremely dense infestations or containing spines. When invasive plants infest agricultural areas, they can reduce forage for livestock, contaminate seed stocks and reduce crop yields. Some invasive plants are known to affect regeneration of tree seedlings in the forest industry.
What can we do?
Prevention of infestations is the most successful and cost-efficient method of dealing with invasive plants. Elimination may be possible for established infestations if the area is not too large and re-infestation by neighbouring plants is not likely. In some instances, infestations are too large to be practical for elimination, but must be controlled to prevent spread and new infestations. Control or elimination efforts generally have three options: mechanical, chemical or biocontrol methods.
Usually the most successful control or elimination efforts use some form of ‘Integrated Pest Management.’ Integrated Pest Management is a management strategy that identifies a number of steps used to control invasive plants, including:
- inventory of invasive plant infestations,
- risk assessment,
- identification and development of control options,
- decision on one or more control methods to be used, and
- site treatment and monitoring.
What You Can Do provides specific actions we all can take to prevent and control invasive plant infestations.
Weeds know no boundaries: join forces!
The Northwest Invasive Plant Council (NWIPC) developed as a committee in 1992 and a not-for-profit organization in 2004 with the goal of preventing further damage to the ecosystems of the northwest and central BC from invasive alien plants. Bylaws and a constitution govern the NWIPC, and documents such as the current NWIPC 2007 Plan and Profile, and Invasive Plant Strategy for BC detail the strategies used by the NWIPC to manage invasive plants. Please contact us with any concerns or questions.
January 25th, 2012
A Record Number of Community Weed Pulls
NWIPC facilitated a record number of Community Weed Pulls in 2011 - A big thank you to all the...
January 9th, 2012
Check Out the 2012 Weedy Events
The 2012 NWIPC Events Calendar has been posted to the website. Take a look at when we'll be in...
November 28th, 2011
Weed Free Forage and Straw For Sale!
The Northeast Invasive Plant Committee (NEIPC) and the Northwest Invasive Plant Council (NWIPC)...
November 24th, 2011
2011 Photo contest Winners
The votes have been tallied and we are please to announce the winners for the 2011 Photo contest!
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November 24th, 2011
NWIPC Fall Meeting Minutes Available
Check out what happened at the Nov. 15 Fall Meeting by downloading the minutes.
By reading the...
July 18th, 2011
NWIPC 2010 Reports Now Available
Are you having a hard time remembering if blueweed was reported in your area or what invasive plant...
June 17th, 2011
NWIPC in your local News
Within the past month NWIPC has been featured in two news stories around the region. It looks like...
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How do you say it? Invasive Plant versus Noxious Weed
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