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By Shane Clausing

weed warrior program

County of Grande Prairie’s Weed Warrior Program off to busy start in 2020

Jul 26, 2020 | 7:00 AM

After a slow start to the season due to COVID-19, regulations and rules have been put in place so the County of Grande Prairie’s Weed Warrior Program can continue.

Community groups can now continue to fundraise for their organizations, while helping combat noxious weeds in affected areas of the County.

Every year, various different non-profit programs apply for the chance to pick noxious weeds, so they can help raise money for their organization.

Organizations that are selected participate in a four- to five-hour shift during a weekday. Once completed, the County of Grande Prairie donates $500 to the organization that participated in the activity.

“The Weed Warrior Program is basically an education and awareness program designed to give non-profit groups a chance to raise money, while still learning about noxious weeds and non-noxious weeds that we have in the province and especially here in the County of Grande Prairie,” explained Jill Henry, the head of the program.

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Henry says it’s important to keep noxious weeds under control in the region.

“We typically focus on a weed called Scentless Chamomile, some people call it Mayweed, but it typically blooms this type of year in July. In a lot of places, it will get fairly big, fairly quickly, so in order to control it the best method is to pick it, bag it and burn it, or destroy it at the landfill.”

“The seeds are really hardy, they can remain viable in the soil for up to 20 years, and each plant can have up to 20,000 seeds per plant, so it’s really important to pick them when they’re really small before they go to seed.”

Groups that end up participating are also encouraged to engage in friendly competition against other charitable groups that’ve taken part in the program. There is a $100 bonus that is awarded to the group that picks the most weeds at the end of their shift.

Henry says so far this year, groups have had a busy year for picking weeds.

“So far, the groups have picked over 9,400 pounds or 4,000 kilograms, which is probably equivalent to about two big sized pick-up trucks, so that’s a lot of noxious weeds that are no longer in our landscape.”

Those interested in registering can do so at the County of Grande Prairie’s website.