Phragmites… You might not know what it is, but you have certainly seen them.
“We are fully impacted and fully infested with phragmites,” said Essex Region Conservation Authority CAO Tim Byrne.
Phragmites is an invasive plant in the region causing so much trouble it has forced the creation of a regional task force to deal with it.
You see them while driving along the E.C. Row Expressway, in parks, and ditches in front of homes.
“Once you notice it in you and you start to look for the phragmites, you’ll see it pretty much anywhere,” said Brian MacMillan, drainage superintendent for the Town of LaSalle.
He explained phragmites can cause blockages in local waterways, like municipal drains and natural watercourses.
“It also reduces the biodiversity of the wetlands, which can impact a lot of species, from bugs to animals, and of course, the plants that are being drowned out,” he said.
A perennial grass, phragmites has been damaging ecosystems in the province for decades. It’s not new to the region but, according to Byrne, its impact has significantly increased over the past few years because of weather, lake levels, and water conditions.
“You have to be very, very careful what one is doing to attempt to manage it and how are you managing it,” Byrne cautioned.
He said the plant could leech out and impact residential and agricultural areas if non-regulated herbicides are inappropriately applied.
“To simply go in and cut it, if there is still life in the stock or in the stem, that will reroot at the location where it hits, and now you’ll have more plants.”
Last weekend, Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy was joined by a few residents to clean up debris from ditches surrounding phragmites.
“In 2024, we actually spent $115,000 on phragmites management and we’ve had to increase that budget in 2025 to $125,000,” Bondy noted.
Fay Hermann helped and noticed the impact the phragmites were having besides creating a trap from debris.
“Everything flies out on a windy day, and it just goes all over, plus we have people that are dumping. I don’t know why they do that,” Hermann wondered aloud as she continued to clean a ditch and other spots alone on Wednesday.
A local official said the cost and impact of phragmites is incalculable and is causing damage to infrastructure.
“We are well past the point of thinking that it could be dealt with in isolation,” Byrne warned.
A regional task force committee is engaging with senior levels of government trying to find a collective process to manage phragmites.
Byrne said they are working with Environment Canada at a couple of locations in LaSalle on biological control.
“It is an evolving and increasing problem for all of us, but a measure of response is the best response in dealing with it,” he added.
