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A non-profit waging war against phragmites in Tay Township is confident there’s light at the end of the tunnel --- provided the township continues to support it.
Heather Sarjeant, communications director, of Georgian Bay Forever (GBF), told Tay Township council members that it was able to remove approximately 23 tonnes of phragmites using the $15,000 received from the municipality last year.
“We want to bring in Truxors for an extra two days,” said Sargeant. “That's why we're asking for $40,000. We want to employ four students full-time, two focusing on big cuts and two driving the community for smaller cuts.”
Coun. Paul Raymond was very interested in the project and had lots of questions around the invasive plant that causes damage to Ontario’s biodiversity, wetlands and beaches.
“Along the shoreline is a mix of township and private properties and you seem to have coverage on both,” he said. “Do you have to go through an approval process from the property owner or is it not your intent to include them?”
Sargeant said GBF begins with an education process.
“If we get pushback, we continue to educate them,” she said. “At a certain point, if it's far enough in the water, we don't need the approval of the private property owner, but most of the time we find they want to help us.”
Raymond said this issue was really important for him and council.
“I understand the need for this,” he said. “We visited this the first year we got elected. (Regarding) the amount of phragmites that is removed and the amount that comes back, do you anticipate this to be an ongoing battle or do you see light at the end of the tunnel?”
Sargeant shone some light on that.
“I absolutely do see a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “The more we cut, the faster we'll get to eradication.”
Coun. Barry Norris wanted to know how much funding the non-profit received from government sources.
“We don't get a lot of funding from the federal and provincial governments,” said Sargeant. “Sometimes we get funding towards hiring the students. We've tried in the past and we've had the odd grant, but we don't get a lot of money from them on this.”
In addition to phragmites removal, GBF was also asking for an extra $15,000 towards two other programs, including a plastic mitigation plan.
“Our clothes shed these fibres in the washer and go down the drain,” said Sargeant. “Wastewater treatment plants capture a lot and they're unsung heroes, but a tonne of fibres are still going through.”
The second is titled the Mitigating Unencapsulated Polystyrene Foam Program that is borne out of the use of foam under floating docks.
A decision around funding will be made at a meeting later this month.
