The provincial government is offering financial support to groups and organizations fighting against phragmites.
It is a reed grass that can spread quickly and take over local ecological systems.
Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris says $5 million will be earmarked for projects across the province.
“Phragmites also threatens critical infrastructure and leads to significant maintenance costs across the province,” says Harris.
“Somewhere in the neighbourhood of $3.6 billion is what we attribute to lost productivity and/or dollars spent with not just Phragmites but other invasive species across Ontario.”
The plant has been identified as one of Ontario’s most harmful invasive species.
“It’s a very interesting thing; it will hop on, the little spores and seeds, onto a rail car. And we’ll go from Southern Ontario all the way up north. So you see it along the side of the road. We need to get rid of it,” says Harris.
The funding will go to 119 different groups and projects across the province.
