BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Six members of the plant patrol under the supervision of the Clean Annapolis River Project (CARP) were out this month pulling garlic mustard weed in the ditches surrounding Grand-Pre.

CARP environmental researcher Marika Godwin says the patrol, with assistance from the transportation department, sought the pesky weed in outlying regions of the village to prevent its spread.

“We’re trying to get 100 per cent of the plants,” she noted, “before they finish flowering. Late May and early June is when the little white flower shows.”

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive alien herb known to succeed in woodland sites at the expense of native flora. Its invasive potential is high, Godwin says, and it may pose a threat to the integrity of Nova Scotia’s unique Acadian forest ecosystem.

Jim Wolford of Wolfville discovered the population of garlic mustard in Grand-Pré in 2002. It’s the only documented occurrence of the plant in the province. Plants have been found growing on federal, provincial and private property.

It seems to like ditches and speculation has it that snowplows help it to spread. Godwin and other botanists have been recording the spread of the mustard, but don’t know its origin.

Hopes to partner and pull the weed

Following a 2007 meeting of managers from key agencies, Parks Canada, the N.S. Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, CARP made a commitment to work together with the local community to combat the population of garlic mustard at Grand-Pré. A public meeting on the subject was held last summer.

Next winter Godwin is hoping to partner with some community groups and schools to get out during Environment Week and pull the weed.

CARP's invasive alien plant work has been funded by: Invasive Alien Species Partnership Program (IASPP), a federal government initiative and the Shell Environmental Fund. The Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens at Acadia University is another partner.

Godwin says there are a number of concerned botanists, gardeners, naturalists, and citizens already monitoring invasive plants in their own neighbourhoods to whom she speaks regularly.

CARP has had a project ongoing for the past year called "Community Action on Invasive Alien Plants", as described on their website: www.annapolisriver.ca

Invasive species

Godwin has been speaking to garden clubs and field naturalists in an effort to encourage more people to take responsibility for invasive plants on their own property, and to be more careful when choosing plants.

“I inform people of the risks imposed by invasive plants because many people don’t see plants as threatening,” she said.

Plants considered as invasive aliens include: glossy and common buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula and R. cathartica); Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum); purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria); common reed (Phragmites australis); garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata); Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius); multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora); Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense); and Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus).

As native populations decline due to invasion, gene pools of native plant populations dwindle and a monoculture is created.

Some of the ways to control invasive plants include cutting seed heads off before they spread or disposing of pulled plants by drying and burning them.

For more information on invasive plants in the province or on volunteering with this project, call Godwin at 1-888-547-4344 or e-mail: marikagodwin@annapolisriver.ca.