Adam Williams – Kamloops This Week
The City of Kamloops might be finished with pesticides, but the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) may end up picking up the slack.
At its July meeting, the TNRD discussed plans to ask the Southern Interior Weed Management Committee (SIWMC) to devote more focus toward weed control on primary and secondary highways throughout the Thompson-Nicola.
The district partners with SIWMC for invasive plant management in the region.
The TNRD will also seek meetings with the ministry of transportation and the ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations to discuss the issue.
“There is an awful lot of weeds on our highways and secondary roads that are playing havoc with large properties in the residential areas,” said director Ronaye Elliott of Area J (Copper Desert Country), who brought the issue to the board’s attention.
In a follow-up interview with KTW, Elliott discussed the problems noxious plants like knapweed are causing for rural landowners.
The weeds are picked up by vehicles and carried onto private properties, where they proliferate at uncontrollable rates, impacting grazing land and hay crops.
“It’s not just Cherry Creek and Savona,” she said.
“It’s the whole corridor.”
Elliott’s concerns were echoed by director Ken Gillis, chair of the district’s invasive-plant committee, who said noxious plants are a problem throughout the region.
The district hopes to meet with ministry officials at the upcoming meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, which will take place in Vancouver from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25.
Elliott said she hopes a weed-control plan for 2015 has already been established. If the issue is that weed-management authorities aren’t getting enough funding, she hopes pressure from the TNRD will help.
“The issue is growing more and more,” she said. “They need to get at it.”