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Editorial: Province needs to do some broombusting

Broom spreading like wildfire along the sides of provincial highways
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Broom often lines roadsides in B.C.. (Black Press file)

We didn’t think we’d be writing about Scotch broom again so soon, but it looks like there’s a promising campaign afoot.

The Broombusters Invasive Plant Society is asking local governments to endorse a resolution that will be forwarded to the Union of B.C. Municipalities calling on the province to establish Scotch broom as a noxious weed. More importantly, the society is calling for the province to establish laws to mitigate its spread on lands controlled by the province and Crown corporations.

This is the key, and what has long been missing in the fight to get the upper hand on this menace.

You see, private individuals and groups, and even municipalities play a part, no doubt, in stopping the spread of broom on their properties, but it is immediately evident to anyone with eyes that such efforts are almost nullified by broom spreading like wildfire along the sides of provincial highways and flowing like a river through B.C. Hydro rights-of-way.

Hydro corridors provide perfect conditions for broom to spread through otherwise inhospitable, rugged areas, as the land around the lines is kept cleared of trees and anything else that can interfere with electrical transmission. Without competition, broom has moved right in, put its feet up on the couch and left its dirty towels on the bathroom floor.

Highways, likewise, provide a great avenue for the spread of broom. Roadside soils are poor and car pollution acts to keep more desirable plants stunted, leaving the hardy broom to sow itself first on the road shoulders, then to creep up and down perilous cliffsides, into meadows and fields and woodlands.

In other words, if the province doesn’t start taking broom eradication more seriously, then all the efforts in the world by private individuals and groups will not stop its advance.

So why is it so important to at least curb its spread? The yellow flowers are pretty enough that tourists who don’t know any better often comment on them favourably.

As the Broombusters told North Cowichan, a study by the Invasive Species Council of BC concluded that Scotch broom is the invasive species causing the most harm to native species at risk. This is because of how fast it spreads and how it chokes out anything else once it becomes established. Then there’s the sheer variety of terrain in which it seems to thrive.

It is also often toxic to wildlife and highly flammable.

Which all adds up to bad news. Broom clearly has the upper hand on us right now, so steps like those being proposed above are vital to us gaining control.