Watershed Stewards hosting invasive pest workshop in Swift

The fight against invasive species will need the help of land managers and other industry stakeholders to keep these pests at bay, and an upcoming workshop in Swift Current will arm them with information for the battle.

The Swift Current Creek Watershed Stewards (SCCWS) is hosting an invasive pest workshop on March 17 for various organizations that can make a difference in the control of invasive species. “This is looking for and inviting people involved in the oil and gas industry, environmental companies, land managers, gravel pit operators, municipalities, the RMs and the city and the towns,” SCCWS Executive Director Kevin Steinley said. “We approached them with invitations to come out, because I think all of those groups have a significant role to play.”

A similar workshop about invasive species took place last year, which was attended by around 30 people.

“Everybody thought well of it,” he said. “It was a good opportunity for land managers and alike to learn about invasive weeds and how to control infestations, and I think they were looking for more information. So we decided to do one again this year.”

SCCWS received funding from SaskEnergy for last year’s event and the Crown corporation again provided financial support for this year’s workshop to inform participants about various invasive species.

There will be presentations by several speakers at the workshop. The event will provide information about control measures, project success and types of invasive pests, including weed species.

“We have presenters from industry to give case studies and examples of the work that they’ve done in municipal settings to reduce and control infestations of invasive plant species,” he said. “We’ve got somebody giving a presentation on sort of the chemical control and methods in the industrial setting. We will have somebody from SaskEnergy presenting and we also have the plant health officer from SARM presenting on their work.”

Workshop participants will receive information about good management practices to avoid the spread of invasive species.

“That’s a large part of what we’re talking about,” he said. “Prevention is worth a pound of cure. So we’re looking at these to try and give steps that they can take to avoid spreading the invasives and to try to get it stopped before it even starts.”

Steinley felt the opportunity to network will be another important benefit for workshop attendees and