The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is asking for public comment on its proposed Ontario Invasive Species Strategic Plan until June 20^th, 2011.  Invasive species are a key threat to our province’s biodiversity, especially many species at risk.  This proposed plan aims to:

• prevent new invasions;
• detect new invaders quickly ;
• rapidly respond to new invaders;
• effectively manage established and spreading invaders through containment, eradication and control.

Invasive species can cause enormous ecological impacts, but their financial impacts can be quite startling as well.  For example, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation has reported that economic losses and the costs of environmental impacts caused by invasive species exceed $100 billion annually in the United States alone.

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) first called on MNR to develop a plan to deal with invasive species almost eight years ago in our 2002/2003 Annual Report, as part of the larger push to have the Ontario government recognize its duty to conserve biodiversity.

In our 2003/2004 Annual Report, the ECO flagged the following barriers to adequately managing the threat of invasive species in Ontario:

• prevention measures have gaps and are often not enforced;
• government resources to detect, contain and eradicate these species are limited;
• government funding of initiatives is very limited, considering the potential losses.
• information about invasive alien species – their behaviour, preferred food and habitat, and control and eradication – is often lacking or non-existent;
• containment and eradication measures are often controversial, particularly the use of biocontrols (such as another alien species) and of chemicals;
• knowledge of our native ecosystems – species composition and interactions – is often dated or lacking; and,
• property owners and local residents may be unaware of how their behaviour can undermine containment measures and may resent drastic measures, such as eradication of all trees within an area.