For the 19th year over 40 speakers are attending the Invasive Species Council of BC’s annual forum.
The focus is to share research, knowledge, and the best practices to reduce their impacts moving forward.
Executive Director Gail Wallin said she has attended all 19 and this is the largest group yet that have come together to try and manage invasive species, one of the most aggressive threats to biodiversity.
The dialogue for this forum has a tie to the Cariboo as the first Invasive Plant Strategy for BC was started in Williams Lake twenty-five years ago.
“At that time 25-years ago was because ranchers, the Regional District, and the First Nations came together and said we need to do business differently if we want to protect our lands and waters from invasive plants. Twenty-years ago the focus was on, we called them weeds, noxious weeds, but today we’re using a different term called invasive plants. Way more people are involved today then there were before to stop the spread of invasive species.”
Wallin said we all have a role to play when it comes to preventing the spread so we can curb the huge costs that come with invasive species management, costs to the economy, community and health.
People are now realizing that invasive species have a big impact on land and water and that they’re a high risk.
Looking at warmer and changing climates, Wallin noted it puts the Cariboo at an even bigger risk as Species the Region never had before can be introduced and winter more easily which is a huge issue for our agriculture and range lands.
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