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English Ivy invasion puts Stanley Park plants in peril
By Sandra Thomas-Staff writer
English Ivy may sound pretty, but it's killing Stanley Park. More than a third of the park's 600 acres has been taken over by the predatory ivy, an invasive species that's suffocating the park's native plant life.
Eric Meagher, a maintenance supervisor for the parks board, said about 240 acres of forest floor are covered with the creeping vine, which takes over and smothers all but the hardiest of native plants.
"It out-competes every native species in the forest," he said. "I call it an ivy desert because when it's removed there's nothing left underneath."
Meagher and the Stanley Park Ecological Society have started a program called Ivy Busters to battle the problem. The program started last Sunday and takes place every third Sunday after. Meagher, members of the society and as many volunteers as they can muster will tackle the painstaking job of pulling the ivy up by its roots one plant at a time. The volunteer ivy busters will grab a vine, follow it along until they find a root and then yank it out. The project requires dedication because though a plant has been pulled, it doesn't mean it's gone for good.
"They re-root," Meagher explains. "This is going to be a long process."
English ivy (Hedera helix) was brought to North America by European settlers hundreds of years ago. It's taken a particularly strong hold in parks and forests in the Pacific Northwest, particularly B.C., Washington and Oregon. It begins as a vigorously-growing ground cover, creating a mono-culture on the forest floor. After establishing itself at the base of the forest, the ivy climbs trees and has been known to wipe out other plants in as little as 15 years.
While no one knows for sure how the ivy came to Stanley Park, Meagher suspects someone dumped garden clippings there about a decade ago.
Although a favourite for landscaping, the ivy has no place in parks and forests, said Meagher. The plant is such a headache in the U.S. it's on the state noxious weed list in both Oregon and Washington, which means it's prohibited from entry into the state unless accompanied by the appropriate federal and state permits.
Volunteers for the next clean-up days (July 18, Aug. 8 and 29, and Sept. 19) can meet at the Stanley Park Ecology Society, located within the Pavilion near Malkin Bowl, at 9 a.m. If enough volunteers show interest, the number of clean-up days might be extended.
"There's no reason we can't pull ivy in the winter," Meagher said.
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