OTTAWA -- In Ottawa's Sandy Hill neighbourhood, you may notice a shrub of green plants along the Rideau River Path. They are Japanese knotweeds, an invasive plant.
"It's invasive because it covers the soil and blocks out water and light or nutrients to any of the native plants here," said Sandy Hill resident, Jane McNamara. "It becomes the only thing that grows here which isn't good."
McNamara is one of many volunteers who has been hard at work this summer removing the dominant plant.
"We actually dug up all this stuff and cut it," she explained. "The weed grows like crazy."
Action Sandy Hill, the area's community association, spearheads the project. Its goal is to nip the infestation in the bud before it causes greater harm to the urban forest.
"Invasive plants are an underappreciated threat to the environment," said Bryan Dewalt, a member of Action Sandy Hill. "It gets overlooked too often, but in fact the understory of this forest is now made up of invasive plants."
The volunteer-based group has been clearing the weeds near Strathcona Park since May. On Thursday, members laid down a tarp and mulch to prevent the aggressive weed from spreading further.
"We are picking isolated sites with the worst infestation to keep it from going further down into the river," Dewalt said.
Once clipped and placed in garbage bags, they plants will be picked up by the city.
"We don't want to see our native plants get obliterated by the plant so we are putting an effort to beautify the neighbourhood and keep it as its supposed to be," added McNamara.
Signs have also been placed in the recently plucked areas to raise awareness and hopefully keep the shrubs at bay.
