Invasive species the target of upcoming community workshop

What are North Grenville’s yard maintenance rules?

that the By-law applies to tenants, not just owners, unless a lease specifies that yard maintenance is the landlord’s responsibility.

submitted by RVCA

In the war on invasive species, knowledge is the most potent weapon – and a free community workshop aims to arm the public with as much invasive species information as possible.

Focusing on identification and how to reduce their spread, the workshop on Saturday, July 29 will feature staff presentations as well as hands-on displays of invasive plants and animals.

“We’re hoping more members of the public will become familiar with these species and their impacts,” said Amanda Lange, RVCA’s Aquatic Habitat Monitoring Co-ordinator.

“The more people know about invasive species, the more we can collectively work to curb their spread. And by reducing the spread, we can give our native species a fighting chance and promote a more balanced and diverse local ecosystem.”

Invasive plants like Himalayan Balsam, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed and dog-strangling vine can spread rapidly, pushing out native species and leaving gaps in the area’s biodiversity. This can reduce food supplies and resources for other species who rely on the missing native plants. Invasive plants are also often poor substitutes when it comes to erosion and flood mitigation, as their roots generally aren’t as deep or strong.

In the water, invasive aquatic species can have dramatic ecosystem impacts while also measurably changing water quality and characteristics. For example, invasive zebra mussels filter suspended particulates so effectively ththey can cause distinctly weedier lakes, since sunlight can reach further into the water column.

“We’re excited to welcome the public to learn what they can do in their own backyards to make a difference,” Lange said. “It’s a group effort to keep our local environment as natural and functional as possible for everyone’s benefit.”

The workshop will be held at the RVCA’s headquarters in Manotick from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 29. All are welcome, including community associations, environmental groups, property owners, gardeners, students and anyone with an interest in learning about invasive species. Light refreshments will be served. Advance registration is required.

Contact citystreamwatch@rvca.ca for more information.

by Brandon Mayer

A question that is bound to come up more often for homeowners and some renters in the summer, as opposed to the winter, is one regarding the Municipality’s yard maintenance rules. What are the rules? How and when are they enforced? What is the purpose of the rules?

Some residents have expressed concern this year, as they do every year, that North Grenville’s yard maintenance rules are too strict, or that it doesn’t make sense for landowners not to have control over their own property, especially in a rural area. Is this really the case? Or do yard maintenance rules serve a good purpose?

North Grenville’s Yards

By-Law No. 46-07 leaves some of the rules up for interpretation. There is no specified height limit for grass, but one rule does dictate that “no person shall permit any lands under their control to become untidy, unsightly, unsanitary, unhealthy or dangerous”, listing out several things that could be deposited on a property to make it noncompliant. Examples listed are debris, rubble, garbage, excreta, and more.

Other points in the Bylaw are made very clear. For example, the By-law specifies that noxious weeds must be removed by the property owner if they appear between May 1 and October 15. The wording of “any lands under their control” is significant because it means

Baldwin’s Birds

Amy Martin, Director of Planning and Development with the Municipality, added some useful information for North Grenville residents. “The Yards By-law is intended to ensure that properties are maintained in an orderly fashion not just for aesthetics, but to reduce the presence and proliferation of noxious weeds and pests”, she said. “Long grass can attract certain pests that can cause a nuisance to property owners and noxious weeds can be a safety issue.”

If there is no maximum allowable grass height specified, how are property owners and renters expected to know what is acceptable?

Director Martin was able to explain. “The Yards By-Law does not specify a maximum height for grass whereby it must be maintained. Rather, the By-law provides that lawns are to be maintained to locally accepted standards. This is often a judgement call in the field on the part of the by-law officer,” said Director Martin.

Director Martin explained that in regard to two properties away from his house, where there are most likely some reeds and some water creatures that it could catch, so we figured that that must have been where it had ventured forth from. Hopefully, it will find its way safely back there soon.

The subject of preventing bird window collisions has not gone away, as I have been informed that the UV Liquid is hard to come by locally. However, my informant has furnished me with another supplier who can readily get it in Canada – www.thebirdhouse.ca

Once Bittern Twice Shy

I was just wondering what I was going to talk to you about this week when a friend contacted me with quite the avian surprise and what a beauty it was too. A "Least Bittern" had found its way onto his balcony and was on one of his wooden chairs. He was able to get a couple of good pictures of it and also a bit of a "movie" as it moved away from him.

He then called me to see if I would like to see it which, of course, I did, but by the time I got to his house it had decided that the refuge of the "Hastas" was a better place to be and, for me, making picture-taking a bit more of a challenge! I did get to see it, although not as completely as he had previously done, but it was still an exciting experience. We both wondered where it had come from but there is a water catch basin

A couple of my drinking buddies have told me of their sightings of birds recently. One of them spotted a pair of Scarlet Tanagers in his garden, and the other, who has a lakeside cottage beyond Perth, has got a Coopers Hawk nesting very close to his dwelling and has spotted some of the young ones too. Meanwhile, our everyday garden birds continue to keep us occupied and our interests up, as we try to figure clean yards and unmaintained lawns, the by-law officer always takes an approach of working with the homeowner to achieve compliance. This means that although violations are subject to officers’ interpretations of “locally acceptable standards”, a first step when a violation is found can be a simple discussion with a property owner or renter, letting them know of the violation and how to fix it before other enforcement action needs to be taken. This could be very important in a case where, for example, a property owner does not know that a certain species of plant growing on their property qualifies as a “noxious weed”.

When asked whether by-law officers routinely drive around looking for violations, Director Martin confirmed that “enforcement of by-laws is mostly complaint driven.”

Municipal by-laws that are enforced by by-law services are available on the Municipality’s website at https://www.northgrenville.ca/council-government/municipal-government/by-laws out their next moves. "Fascinating" is the only word that I can use at the moment for watching what they all get up to and that also includes the odd roadside spottings that I get of the overhead nesting Ospreys alongside some of our local riverside roads. I hope that your own interest is still being piqued by our avian friends. Stay safe and well.

Cheers, John Baldwin