Last week featured heavy rains, so with this week as the scheduled rain delay event for an invasive phragmites removal group and their volunteers, it was just a matter of how long they could work through the intense heat and humidity.
Only a handful of volunteers showed up to Waubaushene dock at Pine Street on Thursday, joining the members of environmental group Georgian Bay Forever – who wore the self-titled ‘Phrag Busters’ shirts for the event – in their annual effort to mitigate ecological damage by the invasive phragmites species of water plant.
“We have a huge stand out in the water there that we've been working on for the last three years,” said science projects manager Nicole Carpenter. “Each year we usually get a couple of volunteers, but we could use a lot more to help get this done.
“(With) a hundred people – we would get that done in less than an hour, maybe 15 minutes?” Carpenter told MidlandToday.
“The stand would still grow back, but we would have nothing left untreated. Usually there's still some stuff left over at the end of the day that we might not end up getting to, so if we had that many volunteers, everything we get cleared out for this year would improve the success of our methods for next year,” Carpenter added.
In previous years, members of Tay council were part of the volunteer group that waded out from the Waubaushene shoreline, waist-deep into Georgian Bay, armed with various cutting tools to perform a ‘cutting to drown’ action on the plant’s root to starve it of sunlight and nutrients.
Tay staff were also part of the efforts acknowledged by Carpenter in helping their cause through setting up for the event, such as a tent for the group to organize their volunteers and equipment.
A heat warning issued for the day was a concern for the group, who would be exposed in the direct sun as they bent into the waters to cut and collect the phragmites. Carpenter hoped for the group to be as safe as possible before the noon hour.
“We have until the end of August, so it's a very short window: mid-July to the end of August,” Carpenter explained. “This is to avoid fish spawning that occurs early in the season, and then as we get later in the season the seeds start to develop in the fall, so we want to cut the phragmites before those seeds develop to prevent spreading it.”
Cut phragmites would be carefully loaded onto a boat from Georgian Bay Forever, who would bring it a short distance to a supplied dumpster courtesy of a local business.
“We have a great local business that supports us – Tom from Bin City – he provides bins for us to drag the phrag to shore. And then when he disposes of the invasive phragmites at the Midland dump, he gets a weight of the amount of phragmites that we remove,” said Carpenter.
Annual efforts to curb the species aren’t limited only to labour-intensive volunteer assistance for locals hoping to assist in the cause.
“We're a local Canadian registered environmental charity, so we really appreciate any donation that we can get. We mainly run off of donations, so that's one way; and also spreading education and awareness about invasive phragmites to their local community.”
Further information on invasive phragmites, with details on how to contribute to the group, is available on the Georgian Bay Forever website.
