3 minute read
Saying Y.E.S. to Nature
New Broom — Clean Sweep?
BY NIKKI TOXOPEUS
Every summer, it sweeps across the Island — a sea of yellow. Scotch broom! To some, it is beautiful. To others, it is a monstrous plague. It is highly invasive and highly flammable — a gift to any hungry forest fire in search of fuel. One plant can produce up to 18,000 seeds, lasting over 60 years in the soil. Yikes! When a seedpod bursts, it flings its babies around; soon, they are everywhere!
They flourish in the sun, often in the same places where the camas and the shooting stars like to grow. Game over, for them.
Volunteer broombusters are active in a host of places. The Ladysmith Broombusters and the Friends of Holland Creek are working to clear Holland Creek and Transfer Beach Parks, to get it off the right-of-ways that carry it into the heart of the parks. A big shout-out to the wonderful volunteers who clambered down steep slopes to stop the broom reaching the creek; who hauled up giant broom trees that, unbelievably, were only five years old; who dragged up fake Christmas trees that had been surreptitiously dumped in the park (coal in your stocking next year …); who snipped off the sprouts from previously mown broom bushes; and who quietly cleared broom from their yards and road frontages.
Once cut, what then? Disposal of brooms can be tricky. We are so grateful to the staff of Ladysmith Parks Operations, who clear the piles away in Ladysmith, and to others who selflessly use their trucks and trailers to take them to Peerless Road.
At the entrance to Yellow Point Park, volunteers have worked persistently for fifteen years to turn what used to be a sea of yellow broom into a sea of blue camas, fringed with yellow monkeyflowers. Yeah! Volunteers have also been working to help clear Trillium Park and Nanaimo River Canyon Community Park, where trilliums, pipsissewa, manzanita and paintbrush need protecting.
Why do we do this? We get great satisfaction from “tipping the balance” in favour of the native plants and seeing them survive and thrive after the broom is removed, provided we are quick enough to remove it before the invasive agronomic grasses have taken hold and prevented it from returning.
A big thank-you to everyone who stops to encourage us as we work. Even the honks on the highway are appreciated, although they make us jump every time. Public support is growing. While working in Holland Creek, a Yellow Point citizen even offered us a free barbecue if we cleared the broom from Yellow Point. Hmm. Do they know how hard the work is?
So, what more can we do? We—the Yellow Point Ecological Society—are pondering a pilot project to encourage property owners to keep their road frontages clear of broom, starting in 2026. If you have road frontage, might you be interested in signing up? If you have ideas on how we could do more, more effectively, please reach out to us at yellowpoint2020@gmail.com
We invite you to join us when the 2025 Green Champion Hunter Jarratt shares his knowledge and wisdom on practical solutions for managing invasive species and what to replant to restore Garry oak meadows and other ecosystems. The event is free and will be held at the North Oyster Community Hall in Yellow Point on Thursday, June 26, at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome!
