News
Norfolk County Expanded Control Services
New for 2021! Phragmites must be managed at a landscape scale to truly achieve success. With that in mind the LPPAA is expanding beyond the coastal wetlands and the Big Creek watershed to the rest of Norfolk County in 2021. This will allow anyone in Norfolk County with Phragmites on their property to have control work take place free of charge.
Big Creek Watershed Phased Program
The second phase of Phragmites control in the Long Point region is to expand control services up the Big Creek watershed. In 2018 the LPPAA developed a subcommittee known as the Big Creek Watershed Subcommittee (BCWS) tasked with coordinating the expansion of Phragmites control services.
This expansion of services allows private landowners to tap into the same resources being used in the LPPAA’s coastal control work; mainly, providing access to professional contractor services, specialized equipment, and aquatic herbicides under the EUR. These services are provided free of charge, allowing landowners to address an issue on their properties that they may otherwise not have the capability to do. Landowner participation in the watershed is crucial in addressing the issue of Phragmites as this watershed drains to the Long Point Inner Bay, and even small patches of Phragmites have the potential of spreading seeds and root fragments downstream to start new infestations.
Coastal Wetland Control
Since 2015, the LPPAA have been implementing a collaborative approach to Phragmites management in the Long Point region to address the impacts of Phragmites and protect the region’s globally significant biodiversity. The first phase of the project, which continues today, has been primarily focused on management of Phragmites in the coastal meadow marshes at Long Point and Turkey Point.
This first phase of the project has involved multiple landowners and Ontario’s first aerial and ground-based application of water safe herbicides for control of Phragmites. This work is led by The Nature Conservancy of Canada in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Canadian Wildlife Service under an Emergency Use Registration (EUR) permit from Health Canada’s Pesticide Regulatory Agency (PMRA). The EUR allows for the purchase and application of a water safe herbicide not yet registered for use in Canada. The product used under the permit, Roundup Custom (active ingredient glyphosate), is only permitted to be used in the coastal marshes of Long Point, the Big Creek watershed, and Rondeau Provincial Park.
The project employs a variety of innovative techniques, known as Integrated Pest Management, including follow-up measures such as prescribed burns and/or rolling and cutting to remove the dead Phragmites plants after herbicide spraying to ensure success. Continuing the control work in coastal wetlands is critical to protecting the areas rich natural features.
Long Point and Rondeau Phragmites Control Project – 2020 Summary
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario Parks, Canadian Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (“the project team”) have recognized invasive Phragmites australis as a significant threat to biodiversity and Species at Risk at Long Point and Rondeau coastal marshes. Using currently available management tools, the Project Team has been working with several partners to eradicate invasive Phragmites from these locations.
The project team is undertaking the fifth year of an Emergency Use Registration of herbicide to treat Phragmites in aquatic environments. Approval was obtained from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, as well as permits and authorizations from Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the treatment of Phragmites in the Long Point Region and Rondeau Provincial Park. Treatment in the Long Point Region uses a combination of aerial and ground application equipment. Application was approved for August 15 to October 31st, 2020.
The implementation of this project at Rondeau and Long Point is based on the presence of significant natural values and the observed exponential growth of Phragmites in these coastal marshes-if control is not undertaken. The following implementation plans summarize work being undertaken by the Project Team on provincial and private lands, and the national wildlife areas.