New invasive species brochure offers guided walk through Charlottetown's Victoria Park 

Almost everywhere you look in Charlottetown's Victoria Park, there are invasive species, both plant and insect.

The P.E.I. Invasive Species Council says that's a good thing in one way: The park is an ideal place to launch a guided walk on the topic. 

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Invasive species technician Clay Cutting said the new brochure gives people a chance to learn about some of the problem species that may also be lurking in their own yards, and some ideas of what to do about them. 

"We wanted to engage the public in invasive species issues. We thought that this was a very public place, and we thought that we could get the most turnout with an area around a large urban centre, so we selected Victoria Park," Cutting said. 

"There are woody invasive species, fungi, diseases, insects. There's a quite a plethora of different invasive species."

One of the big — very big, in fact — offenders in Victoria Park is the Norway maple, a non-native species that can squeeze out native trees.

"You can get what's called a green desert, which is an area that looks very nice, has a lot of foliage, but doesn't actually provide a lot to our native wildlife species," Cutting said.

"They are quite competitive, these Norway maples, so they can displace those native species and reduce native biodiversity."

Early detection

The brochure also shines a spotlight on the spongy moth, an invader that has damaged tree trunks and leaves throughout the park, as well as the Japanese beetle, bittersweet nightshade and glossy buckthorn.

Headlines sprinkled throughout the brochure include "Beech bullies," "Problems in the pond" and "Insect invaders."

Cutting has done several guided tours using the brochure, which includes ideas of what property owners can do if they find these species on their properties.  

"That's really what the tour is all about: putting agency in people's hands who actually go home, identify these invasive species on their own properties, and if they choose, take action," he said.

"I can understand that invasive species can seem a little bit overwhelming, but it's about getting started. If you're too scared of the problem to approach it, definitely reach out to us, and we'll give you some advice as to how you can make the best effort."

If we can actually make people aware of these invasive species, we can address them much more rapidly​​​​​.— Clay Cutting, P.E.I. Invasive Species Council

Cutting said the brochure is available in the park, and is designed to let people do the tour at their own pace.  

Ultimately, he said he hopes the brochure will help in the fight against invasive species. 

"If we can actually make people aware of these invasive species, we can address them much more rapidly, addressing them before they get out of control," he said. "It's not a losing battle in all cases."

Looking for advice

Kassidy Matheson of the Invasive Species Council joined the first public tour using the new brochure, which included some people who had seen invasive species in their own gardens. 

"The Japanese beetle is a big concern for a lot of residents in Stratford, Charlottetown and Cornwall, because it does affect most of their trees, and they're wondering how to manage them," Matheson said.

"Anything that we could offer advice on, as far as management goes, they were quite excited."

She added: "There were some who were just finding out that they had invasives in their properties. It was hard to break the news in that sense, but exciting to share with them how to manage it."

Matheson said the brochure gives property owners a way to figure out what's happening in their yards.

"Plants are very hard to learn to identify, especially if that's not your job, and you're doing that on a weekend, or as a hobby," she said. 

"Each plant kind of has a little secret that we can give people to tell it apart from the others growing nearby."

Matheson hopes there will be more guided walks ahead, in other parts of the Island. 

"I would like to see it done lots more," she said. "It's like a scavenger hunt — who doesn't love that? — and learning your mapping skills again."

The brochure was produced with support from Environment and Climate Change Canada and Island Nature Trust.