Michelle Hunter Urges Saugeen Shores Help Fight Invasive Plant
Michelle Hunter told Saugeen Shores council on Monday night that the invasive plant garlic mustard is now present in parks, forests and probably private backyards across the municipality. She and Rosa Payette are asking for more community help clearing it from public spaces.
Hunter said the group has had limited success attracting volunteers, even as garlic mustard spreads by foot traffic on trails, pets and wildlife, contaminated soil and garden dumping. Each plant can produce hundreds to thousands of seeds, and those seeds can stay viable in the soil for five years.
Saugeen Shores council Monday night
Hunter and Payette made their presentation on Monday night while volunteers asked residents to learn what garlic mustard is and how to get rid of it. The Town has already provided garbage bags and is disposing of the bags for the group, which has been holding removal events in public spaces.
Hunter said the volunteers first identified garlic mustard growing along the rail trail in 2022. By 2024, they shifted their focus mostly to Beiner’s Bush and Shipley because they did not have enough volunteers to cover all of the areas.
Garlic Mustard Challenge of Saugeen Shores
The group is using a Facebook page called Garlic Mustard Challenge of Saugeen Shores and a chat group called Saugeen Shores Invasive Volunteers to organize the work. Hunter said more awareness would bring more volunteers, which would help with early detection, mapping and monitoring infestations, hand pulling before seed set in late spring, bagging and proper disposal, and volunteer removal events.
She also recommended cleaning equipment after use and making sure no one dumps yard waste into public lands. Hunter said municipalities can help by prioritizing removal in high value natural areas and supporting public education campaigns.
Hunter told council the plant has no natural enemies in North America, crowds out native plants and forms dense stands that out-compete native wildflowers, tree seedlings and rare woodland species. She said it can double every four years once established and can become the dominant plant in the forest understory in five to seven years.
For residents who use local trails, bring pets or handle garden waste, the request is simple: learn the plant, avoid spreading it, and join the removal effort if possible. The volunteers are treating early cleanup as the best chance to keep it from taking over more of Saugeen Shores.
