MANITOULIN—As the Manitoulin Phragmites Project enters its 10th year, it continues to make great strides to control the tall, invasive grass that has been spreading aggressively on shorelines and in wetlands in the Manitoulin Island area for many years.
“We tackled some monster areas that previously were beyond us,” stated Judith Jones, coordinator of the Manitoulin Phragmites Project, relating to work that was carried out in 2024 on Manitoulin Island. “We did the first (brush), cut of one-quarter of the patch in Wiikwemkoong (Unceded Territory). We also fully controlled a large patch in Sheguiandah Bay and continued working across the north side of Lake Wolsey with the Truxor cutting machines from the Invasive Phragmites Control Centre. At Little Thomas Bay (at the south end of Wiikwemkoong) we maintained the area controlled by Truxor cutting in 2023. We continue to follow up at several sites in South Bay (WUT and Assiginack), getting patches down to a size small enough to hand over to volunteer Phrag Watchers to maintain.”
In 2024, a total of 20 sites were worked on (including 14 species-at-risk [SAR] habitats), said Ms. Jones. “This is actually fewer than we normally work on each year. This was due to us putting more days in at bigger places to carry out work. We have been at this for nine years, and some of the areas we are now working on are tougher places to get to, and we have to use machines, boats and canoes.”
In 2024 nine sites were worked on by partners and volunteers without us, 24 sites were surveyed or control status checked, 44 hectares of habitat controlled or maintained (42 hectares in SAR habitat with 20 hectares at Lake Wolsey, eight sites where volunteers assisted the phragmites team, eight sites where turtles were observed (including Blandings turtles on six occasions). Eight surveys were done to monitor SAR. A total of 77 sites are now in the hands of volunteer Phrag Watchers, explained the report. “Fewer sites and area worked overall, but larger, more complex sites are being controlled.”
Since 2016, the project has had 117 sites worked on by the Manitoulin Phragmites Project team along with its partners. Due to their efforts, 99 sites with phragmites are under control or eradicated. There are 47 sites in progress or in need of work (including road ditches).
In 2024, “We did our first free ATV wash-down. This was to call attention to stopping the spread by keeping machines clean. We only cleaned a handful of machines but spoke with over 100 people about stopping the spread,” the report notes. With funding provided by the Invasive Phragmites Control Fund, “We bought a cargo trailer to move all our equipment. Our gear will be portable and shareable in the future.”
Ms. Jones reports, “Lake Wolsey continues to be Manitoulin’s worst Phragmites infestation with numerous patches in 64 ha of coastal wetland habitat. It is a multi-season habitat for all our turtle species that includes overwintering and nesting areas. In 2024, we worked 20 ha of habitat (nine hectares new control) mainly with Truxor machine cutting, 11 hectares manual follow up). Depending on funding success, we hope to have five or six days of cutting in 2025 and have the worst of this infestation cut by the end of next summer.”
“Our goal is to reduce phragmites across our landscape to a low level that can be maintained by ordinary people with a little bit of annual effort,” said Ms. Jones.
Ms. Jones explained “We have several very hard-working people who make things happen. Multi-year veterans include Sheila Madahbee (since 2018), Joel Trudeau (since 2019) Nathan Madahbee (since 2020) and Anelli Junkala (2022 and 2024) and with us this year Alex Wemigwans and Shawl Eshkibok. Staff from Nature Conservancy Canada and Manitoulin Streams pitched in often, and we have great volunteers who spend days slogging around with us. These people do the bending, lifting, sweating, swatting bugs and they still smile. A big thanks to everyone.”
The Manitoulin Island Phragmites Management Area Working Group has always been a landscape-wide partnership, with municipalities, Indigenous communities, NGOs, landowners, volunteers and government involved. With new funding from the Invasive Phragmites Control Fund, we are formalizing this working group and getting everyone heading towards being able to maintain control of their own areas, said Ms. Jones.
2025 will mark Ms. Jones last year as phrag coordinator. “I’m going to stop being the coordinator, I can’t continue to do 50 hours a week in the summer,” she told The Expositor. “I still love the field work, but not the evenings and weekends doing logistics in the summer,” said Ms. Jones. “In 2025, the Manitoulin Phragmites Project will wrap up and change into the MI_PMA, with greater partner Involvement and NCC as the landscape-lead. This coming summer we will train new people, discuss sites with partners, apply for new funding, and generally get the future rolling.”
Ms. Jones noted on the issue of herbicide, “It takes some soul searching to accept that we sometimes have to use a small amount of herbicide, or we will lose natural habitats. This year, dry weather and the drop in the level of Lake Huron left a lot of phragmites standing on dry land. This allowed us to spray at eight locations. Monitoring at previous years spray sites shows our best practices of herbicide use are working. The ground where phrag has been sprayed is full of new green plants including some sensitive species.”
Phragmites grows into dense patches that can wipe out all other vegetation. It is a serious threat to wildlife and fish habitat, recreation, tourism, property values, and aesthetics. Southern Ontario has lost thousands of hectares of natural habitat to this highly invasive species. “The Manitoulin Phragmites Project was started to make sure this does not happen on Manitoulin Island.”
