Adam Williams – Kamloops This Week
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District didn’t want to end up in the weeds.
As a result, the regional district is looking for someone new to kill the unwanted creepers and vines and flowers that plague the landscape.
The TNRD will issue a request for proposals (RFP) for a new contractor to deliver bio-control and education programs this spring following a decision to part ways with the Southern Interior Weed Management Committee (SIWMC).
“I think it’s fair enough to say that we weren’t sure whether they were going to be functioning,” said Peter Hughes, the TNRD’s director of environmental services.
“Under the Weed Management Act, we are responsible for our own properties, so we need to go out to get a contractor to treat our landfills and our transfer stations and that kind of thing. On the education side, I don’t think they were prepared and we’ve actually been thinking about changing it up anyway. We don’t have to go with them, right? So, we just wanted to go out to RFP for that as well.”
According to a report Hughes will deliver to the TNRD on Thursday, the regional district had previously renewed its partnership with SIWMC for a one-year period, rather than the standard direct award three-year term, following “concerns about the performance of the SIWMC in carrying out the TNRD program, as well as how they were representing other public agencies they partnered with.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) will also manage their own weed control efforts for 2016. SIWMC had previously acted as a single-service delivery agent for those agencies, coordinating weed-control efforts.
According to a report submitted to the TNRD’s invasive plant committee on Dec. 9, the SIWMC, with the assistance of six contractors, treated 1,127 sites in 2015 at a price tag of about $230,000.
“It’s certainly not something I was satisfied with,” said Ken Gillis, TNRD director for Area L (the area south and southeast of Kamloops) and chairman of the invasive plant committee.
“I understand that if you’re treating small areas, the cost per hectare will certainly increase dramatically, I suppose exponentially.
“But, the fact remains, they spent $230,000 treating 36 hectares of land and I think — small areas or not — that, in my opinion, is not getting the job done.”
Gillis said concerns have been raised, particularly in the last two to three years, about SIWMC’s abilities and the service it was providing to the regional district.
He added there was a lack of accountability — agencies including the TNRD, MOTI and FLNRO would provide the SIWMC with funding, but there were no controls in place to ensure its proper use.
Hughes doesn’t expect costs to decrease now that the TNRD is in charge of weed control.
“You have to understand how it’s done, if I recall,” he said.
“That’s treatment along the sides of roadways and you can’t go out there blanket and spray. It’s spot spraying. You walk along the side of the road or in a gravel pit — there’s a plant, there’s a plant, there’s a plant. And there are certain areas you’re not allowed to spray — in close proximity to water and that sort of thing.
“In the end, its labour-intensive and you’re paying for peoples’ time and, in the end, that’s how much you end up treating.”
The SIWMC did not respond to a request for comment.