Invasive Plants

A major threat to the rangeland ecosystems is the unintentional invasion of aggressive plants brought by settlers to North America. Some of the main invasive plants of concern for the Kamloops district include:

• Diffuse, Spotted & Russian knapweed.
• Houndstongue
• Sulphur cinquefoil
• Leafy spurge
• Toadflax
• Oxeye Daisy
• Rush Skeletonweed: has been discovered nearby in the Okanagan.
• St. John's Wort
• Tansy
• Perennial Pepperweed
• Marsh Plume Thistle
• Orange Hawkweed
• Field Scabious

Please report sightings in previously uninfested locations

Invasive Plant Management:

More specific information on the location of invasive plant species can be found in the Invasive Alien Plant Program. This is the warehouse for invasive plant inventory and management information. The interactive mapping system allows both resource managers and the public access and information on known locations of invasive plant communities.

Invasive Plant Management srategies include: herbicides, handpulling, biological control and most importantly, prevention:  through education, extension of information, grass seeding of disturbed sites/exposed soil, appropriate management of resource uses (such as livestock grazing, recreation, timber harvesting, road building, utility right of ways etc.), and co-ordination between these users.

What can you do?

1. Learn to recognize the invasive plant species.
2. When travelling in B.C's rangelands, stay on established roads. Do not drive across the grasslands.
3. If involved in any activity such as logging or road construction which disturbs the top soil layer, ensure that the disturbed area is reseeded immediately.
4. Check your vehicle and remove attached invasive plants, in particular knapweed, before leaving an infested area. Check your clothes and pets, to remove Houndstongue burs.
5. Report weed sightings in remote areas to the Forest District office.
6. Pull up isolated invasive plants and remove them from the area, for deep burial.
7. Don't purchase invasive plant-infested hay.
8. Provide public support for the government funding of invasive plant control programs.

• Field Guide to Weeds
• Invasive plants Forest Service (Range Branch)
• Controlling Noxious Weeds by Biological Control in BC Forest Service
• Weed Management Ministry of Agriculture.
• Matrix of biological agents of noxious weeds Forest Service
• Weed Control Act of BC
• Chapter 11: Weed Containment and Control Range Manual; Forest Service.
• Invasive Plant Council of BC