Throughout the summer, June through September, the Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society does spot applications of herbicides to control invasive plants including leafy spurge, blueweed, hoary alyssum, puncturevine, longspine sandbur, knapweed and other priority plant species on highways and secondary roads.
Some sites will be treated manually (hand pulling or digging) near wells and creek buffers. The work is being undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
All treated areas will be posted with signs identifying when the treatment was done, the target species and the herbicide applied. A list of highways and secondary roads where treatment is planned is available at the RDOS office at 101 Martin St., Penticton.
Organic producers who wish to discuss the possibility of a no-spray buffer adjacent to a property you own or lease should contact the society at oasiss@shaw.ca or 250-404-0115. Residents concerned about herbicide treatment on the road rights-of-way adjacent to their property should also contact OASISS to discuss concerns.
More information about invasive species is available online at oasiss.ca or on Facebook at invasivespeciessociety.
