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Invasive species council launches summer programs

Tours and weed pulls on the calendar

The Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council is gearing up for a busy summer of pulling invasive weeds and plants around the Sea to Sky corridor, enlisting local volunteers at every opportunity.

In early July, the council is hosting three tours and weed pulls, educating people about native and invasive plants and pulling invasive plants that are on the council's list of species of concern.

On Thursday, July 7 from 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the council will be hosting a tour in Squamish, meeting at the empty lot opposite the Howe Sound Brew Pub. Participants will travel to three or four areas to look at species like Japanese knotweed, Scotch broom, yellow flag iris and giant hogweed, so they can recognize and take action against these species themselves. The tour will be followed with a discussion at the pub.

In Pemberton there will be a tour and pull on Saturday, July 9, meeting along the Arn canal by Highway 99. Participants should meet at 3 p.m. at the dead end road off of Cottonwood Court, opposite the Mount Currie Coffee Company. Bring gloves if possible. Volunteers will be tackling knapweed, hoary alyssum and toadflax for roughly two hours.

On Sunday, July 10 there will be a weed pull in Squamish with the Squamish River Watershed Society. The group will meet at 10 a.m. at the fisherman's entrance to the Squamish training dike by the railroad museum, and the pull will last for approximately two hours. Volunteers should bring good work gloves and shovels if possible, and the group will be going after invasive Himalayan blackberry plans that are poking out along the windsurfing spit. For more information contact Edith Tobe at srws@shaw.ca.

For more on the invasive species council and non-native species in Sea to Sky, visit www.ssisc.info.