City eyes public education campaign for local noxious weed
It is not the weed everyone is talking about, but Prince Albert City Hall is looking to change that.
The city is eyeing a public education campaign to help battle an invasive species growing out of control inside the city. It will look to plant the seed in the minds of residents about the devastating nature of the probelm.
Himalayan Balsam, a rapidly growing annual that was brought to North America from the Himalayan mountain range as a garden ornamental, has been under the microscope for some time. Many features make this plant a successful invader, most notably its reproductive qualities. Thick stands give the plant the ability to produce nearly 30,000 seeds per square meter. The plant also has a lack of natural predators and an uncanny ability to survive the winter.
The public education camping stems in part from a research project undertook by two students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic to devise an optimal means of eradication. Cole Tomlinson and Jeremy Toon spoke to city council on April 9 and said their research yielded estimates of roughly 400,000 plants in a small chunk of land in the East end of the city. The two outlined three means of removal at the time; mechanical, biological and chemical. Each has pros and cons, dependant on location.