Alma Knotweed Eradication
In partnership with the Village of Alma and the Friends of Fundy, Guardian Ecology will begin a knotweed eradication program in the spring of 2021. The project aims to remove the knotweed from the village limits and reintroduce native plant species to the most severely affected areas. The village borders on the Fundy National Park, making the knotweed in Alma a potential source of this invasive plant that could negatively impact the ecology of the Park. The region is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, making its ecological health a matter of global importance.
Monitoring is currently ongoing to watch for the first emergence of this year's new shoots. We are working with the Village of Alma to organize a stakeholder meeting that will seek to inform, and gain support from, landowners affect by knotweed, as well as the community at large.
Many of the knotweed sites are close to either Fundy National Park, the Bay of Fundy, the ecologically significant Upper Salmon River, or drainage systems that empty into the above. As a result, We have chosen to use a mechanical control method to prevent the introduction of pesticides into the ecosystem. We plan to cut any aboveground knotweed biomass as often as once a week (or less frequently as necessary).
The sites that respond favourably to this treatment over the course of the summer of 2021 will be seeded and planted as appropriate, using locally-sourced native plant material.
Monitoring is currently ongoing to watch for the first emergence of this year's new shoots. We are working with the Village of Alma to organize a stakeholder meeting that will seek to inform, and gain support from, landowners affect by knotweed, as well as the community at large.
Many of the knotweed sites are close to either Fundy National Park, the Bay of Fundy, the ecologically significant Upper Salmon River, or drainage systems that empty into the above. As a result, We have chosen to use a mechanical control method to prevent the introduction of pesticides into the ecosystem. We plan to cut any aboveground knotweed biomass as often as once a week (or less frequently as necessary).
The sites that respond favourably to this treatment over the course of the summer of 2021 will be seeded and planted as appropriate, using locally-sourced native plant material.