ONTARIO—A new campaign has been launched, Stop The Invasion, aimed at engaging the public and stopping the spread of phragmites reed, especially around the Great Lakes.

“People aren’t aware of how harmful this invasive plant is,” explained Stop The Invasion and Stop The Drop (a parallel campaign) founder and Executive Director Colin Dobell. “Phragmites is an invasive plant that grows up to 16 feet high and clogs beaches, rocky shores and wetlands. Municipal and provincial governments haven’t paid much attention to it, other then generally mapping invasive plants, but it is a real threat to our shorelines.”

“The only cost-effective way to keep it at bay is to catch it early,” continued Mr. Dobell. “If you catch it when it is less then a square metre you can get rid of it, but after that it continues to grow and has runners that can reach as far as 90 feet—one plant can get as big as 6,000 acres, as it has in southern Ontario.”

“Stoptheinvasion.ca believes that engagement is best seeded in members of the public that have a direct experience of, or connection to, one of the Great Lakes,” states a release. “Stoptheinvasion.ca appeals to this emotional connection to encourage any lake-lover to act–initially in a small way, by joining the community–to support the place they love. Stoptheinvasion.ca is focusing initially on the lake Huron shoreline from Sarnia up to Tobermory and, from there, all around Georgian Bay. We believe that collective action by a group of caring citizens, in partnership with their government, can help to defend our shoreline from the phragmites invasion. Stoptheinvasion.ca is designed to help members get informed about phragmites, get heard by our community leaders and politicians and get involved in productive ways that fit into our busy lifestyles.”

“We have developed a free app that you can download to help map phragmites,” said Mr. Dobell. “By downloading PhragSpotter (an app for iOS or Android devices), our members can help the community crowd-map the phragmite invasion. Our goal is to create a map of where phragmite is today, and where it is headed, that provides the data required by local and provincial leaders to take control, and then eradicate this dangerous invader.”

On Manitoulin, Mr. Dobell hopes to work with Manitoulin Streams next year in educating Islanders of the plant and its threat.

“It is really hard to get rid of,” explained Mr. Dobell. “Burning alone doesn’t work. A powerful herbicide, administered by a licenced eradicator, is the only way and you must apply to the Ministry of Natural Resources for a letter of opinion (saying that your plan will not harm the environment) which is a lengthy process. We are hoping that by sitting down with government leaders, we can help make this process easier and quicker in order to stop the spread. As there is no herbicide approved for use in Canada over water, we are working with Ontario Phragmites Working Group to secure approval for an over-water herbicide for use in Canada.”

Stop The Invasion with it’s ‘App it, Map it, Zap it’ approach hopes to reach 4,000 members by year end 2014, to generate at least 5,000 sightings by December 2014, continue to provide up-to-date information about the situation, bring together community and municipal leaders along Lake Huron shores to seed proactive plans to control phragmites spread in each shoreline area and work with the government to educate and engage federal, provincial and municipal leaders with specific actions that they can take to advance the issue related to phragmites control and shoreline protection.

“It we come together and take action we can protect most of our shorelines, but we need to act quickly,” concluded Mr. Dobell.

To learn more about the fight against phragmites or to join, visit www.stoptheinvasion.ca and download PhragSpotter to start mapping phragmites in your area.