PUSLINCH – A new ecological group is working from the ground up to eradicate invasive species in the township.
Home to about 20 members, the Puslinch Ecological Association (PEA) is made up of a group of neighbours living in the Puslinch Lake area who are looking to raise awareness and take action against invasive species in Puslinch and Wellington County – starting with the phragmites australis, also known as the European common reed, taking over Little Lake.
Formed in late 2023, PEA member Daniela Miranda De Francesca said she was inspired to create the group after learning the history of phragmites in Little Lake from a neighbour last summer.
"When I learned how to recognize what they were, I just started seeing them everywhere," said De Francesca. "And just knowing how detrimental they are to our native environment, it felt like we had to do something."
Often confused for native phragmites, phragmites australis are known for crowding out native vegetation, growing very quickly, causing lower water levels and can affect agriculture, cause road safety hazard and impact recreational activities like swimming or fishing.
In Little Lake, De Francesca said local fishermen have found fish populations have decreased while area residents can't canoe or kayak where they would've previously due to the overgrown reeds.
"My biggest concern, just because I'm a nature lover, is how they're affecting our native landscapes," said De Francesca. "When you have this monolithic type of vegetation, not only will it take the resources from other plants and limit their ability to grow but you also starve out the wildlife that relies on those native plants to survive."
Attempting to address the situation with her husband this summer, De Francesca said they removed 10-15 square feet of phragmites from the lake section outside her home- lugging them to the backyard using a canoe- before they realized it was too big a task to do by hand.
Working alongside the Invasive Phragmites Control Centre, the group intends to purchase special equipment to address the water-bound phragmites and will apply for a special provincial permit to use a FDA-approved herbicide on the land tide phragmites.
A high-end estimate said the equipment will cost approximately $40,000, which the group intends to raise through a combination of grants and community fundraising. De Francesca said they need at least $5,000 for the initial site assessment and management plan.
The group is currently in the process of obtaining charity status.
"The section we cut out, you can already see it growing back," said De Francesca. "So it's a lot of effort to do by hand, especially when it's on water, it's very very time-consuming and back-breaking so to have the machinery come in, it can all be done within a day or two."
Looking to the future, De Francesca said the main challenge for the group will be finding a place for the reeds once they're removed, as they need to be placed in a dry area where the seeds can't spread. They also want to create invasive species workshops to spread awareness in the community.
Once phragmites are dealt with in Little Lake, the group intends to build a turtle beach on-site before broadening its scope to other invasive species and communities in Puslinch and Wellington County.
The group is currently looking for farmers interested in providing land or using the removed reeds for livestock.
"The goal is really to eradicate as many invasive species as we can," said De Francesa. "So it wouldn't be limited to phragmites, they're kind of our jumping-off point."
Any farmers with available land or residents interested in joining the group are encouraged to contact PEA at [email protected].
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
