In her presentation to Kincardine council on April 3, 2023, Dr. Janice Gilbert shared photos of sites where phragmites had outcompeted local flora and grasses. This photo is from Strugeon Creek Wetland, Lake Erie, taken in July 2014. This photo shows how although a reed of invasive phragmities may be cut down, but the plant is able to propagate new growth from the vegetation that remains.
Kincardine council heard an update on efforts to combat invasive grasses in the municipality and throughout the county.
Dr. Janice Gilbert, who is the Founder and Executive Director of the Invasive Phragmites Control Centre, shared the updates on the successful removal of the invasive plant, and what the municipality can do to prevent it from spreading once again.
She also advised them that not all phragmites are created equal — while there are native phragmites in the region, they behave like typical grass.
The invasive European variant of phragmites is very adaptable and spreads and grows in a number of ways.
It can spread by releasing seeds in the wind, but where it really excels is by using rhizomes, stolons, and stems.
The rhizomes specifically are particularly keen to propagate, including by spreading underground.
Phragmites also sends a toxic chemical from its roots that is toxic to surrounding native plants, which allows it to outcompete with regularly occurring grasses like cattail.
Dr. Gilbert referred to studies of how phragmites spreads by Karen Alexander, who used to work for the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation and had to map phragmites from Sarnia to Wiarton, saying “What she found was that when there was a new cell starting at the shoreline or at the mouth of a creek, if she went up into the watershed, [phragmites] was in a roadside ditch or an agricultural ditch. So it was starting up there, and coming down to the water.”
She also shared that the provincial government started taking note when new growth was poking through roadways, and said that it’s often seen that the phragmites likes to spread along transportation corridors.
Dr. Gilbert and her team started focusing on removing the invasive grass several years ago, and through methods of tearing up the reeds, and the use of eco-safe pesticides, they have seen success in their efforts.
There are also efforts in surrounding regions, where crews have worked to also share that construction equipment that works in an area where phragmites has already taken hold to clean the grasses of their equipment before moving onto the next work site, so as to avoid the spread.
Dr. Gilbert also said that their first round of removal wouldn’t have been possible without funding provided by the Municipality of Kincardine, and because of that funding, they were able to eradicate large swaths of invasive phragmites.