Mission – The B.C. government is providing $575,000 to help address invasive aquatic plant impacts in a lake system near Mission, fund research on an invasive plant that affects grasslands and provide additional support for the Invasive Species Council of British Columbia.
This funding is in addition to the $7.7 million in multi-year grants that were distributed provincewide in 2018 to 34 regional invasive species organizations, local governments, environmental groups and researchers.
“Addressing invasive species issues is a key component of our government’s land management strategy, and these additional funding allocations support that important goal,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
Fraser Valley Regional District/Mission/Hatzic Lake
- $262,600 will support the development of a remediation and management plan for Hatzic Lake, with input from stakeholders and various levels of government (local, provincial, federal and First Nations).
- A primary focus of this project is to implement containment and control activities related to the invasive aquatic plant known as flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus).
- The remediation and management plan will address water quality and invasive species issues in the lake. The plan will identify ways to reduce the current effects of flowering rush, prevent further impacts, improve aquatic habitat and protect species at risk.
- A two-year Hatzic Lake Aquatic Invasive Plant Action Plan was created in 2016 to target flowering rush and more generally assess and control the spread of invasive aquatic plants in the lake and connected sloughs.
