The Town of Athabasca is ramping up its weed control program and is asking residents to remove noxious and invasive weeds community wide.
Both the town’s parks foreman and the community peace officer, who is doubling as Athabasca’s weed inspector, have noticed noxious weeds putting down roots everywhere -— from undeveloped private lands and town-owned areas to private properties.
“When we talked to the contractors (PRO-TEC Systems Ltd.), they said this is the worst tansy outbreak they’ve seen in any one of their communities that they do,” said town CAO Josh Pyrcz.
“We need everybody to be doing their patrol on their own property to make sure that we’re staying ahead of the game and we’re not seeing repopulation, especially on town land.”
The town recently issued a public notice for residents to remove the weeds before the community peace officer begins enforcing the Alberta Weed Control Act.
Because these weeds are more aggressive than native plants in the area, the Act requires noxious weeds to be controlled, and prohibited noxious weeds to be completely destroyed from root to tip.
The biggest concern in the Town of Athabasca is Common Tansy, a yellow button-like noxious weed that is toxic to both humans and grazing animals.
“It’s a fairly substantial issue, in particular on some of town property,” Pyrcz said.
“But we’ve also identified a number of properties in the community that have significant tansy populations.”
This year, the town budgeted approximately $8,000 on weed control and plans on increasing that figure in future budgets.
“We do have a serious issue with controlling noxious and invasive species and we need to a look at this in the future and be more proactive,” he said.
Pyrcz encouraged residents to be on the lookout for noxious weeds, and if they have any questions about identifying or removing the plants, to contact the town, peace officer or parks department to come take a look.
“We will continue to provide educational materials for the community, and we just encourage them to be vigilant,” he said.
For more info visit www.abinvasives.ca.
