This is Coast Alive’s area of greatest expertise, and one of the most important things a land steward can do. Controlling aggressive monoculture-forming non-native plants can take many years, and requires planning and perseverance. It is a process that can involve multiple stages and depend on the particular species and the degree of disturbance.
Often, more important than the absolute removal of an invasive species is the encouragement of competitive native species. If native species are not present then planting and protection of trees and shrubs can become a major part of invasive plant control. Coast Alive Services has experience with all the problem invasive plants present in the Gulf Islands, and has successfully controlled well-established infestations of Scotch broom, gorse, English holly, English ivy, Himalayan blackberry and yellow-flag iris.
This beautiful covenant on private land on Salt Spring, part of the rare Garry oak ecosystem, is heavily infested with large gorse and broom. Multiple years of removal, as well as the planting and protection of native trees and shrubs, is slowly transforming the land.
This yellow-flag iris rhizome was removed from a small pond on the Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve, Salt Spring Island. Native cattails and sedges have since become re-established, and red-legged frogs have increased.
Yellow-flag iris can transform wetlands and should be controlled without delay.
Christopher Drake, MSc (Ecology) – Owner/operator
Cell (call or text): 250-221-1342
Email: drake@coastaliveservices
Address: 144 Graham Drive, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1J5
Website last updated: May 2022
Thankful to operate on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast and Straits Salish people, the original stewards of this land.