After an extensive effort in late June, the Cowichan Valley Regional District, BC Parks and other partners have completed the Herculean task of removing all the invasive Scotch broom from Shawnigan Lake鈥檚 Memory Island Provincial Park.

The small island, which is located within Shawnigan Lake and is less than a hectare in size, is cooperatively managed by the CVRD and BC Parks.

For the past three years, the CVRD Parks & Trails Volunteer Program has worked with dedicated community volunteers and BC Parks to remove the overpopulation of blooming invasive Scotch broom on the island, some of which had grown to a great height.

This year, the team can claim success as all of the large plants that were producing seed have been cut and removed from the island by boat to be properly disposed of at a local waste-disposal facility.

This year鈥檚 collaborative effort, which involved CVRD volunteers, staff from BC Parks and student BC Park Rangers, took place on June 25 and 26, and saw an impressive 1,200 kilograms of Scotch broom taken out of the park.

鈥淚t is rare in the world of invasive-species removal to have a clear win like this one, so this project feels like a real success,鈥� said CVRD parks volunteer coordinator Elizabeth Aitken.

However, organizers caution that the monitoring and removal of emerging Scotch broom plants on the island will need to continue into the future as the seed bank lasts for many years. But for now the native flora on the island has room to grow.

A study by the Invasive Species Council of BC concluded that Scotch broom is the invasive species that is causing the greatest harm to species at risk in the province.

Broom spreads densely and rapidly and grows huge quickly, crowding out native trees and plants, and also negatively impacts agricultural production where it takes hold because it鈥檚 toxic to grazing animals and plant life as it displaces grasses and foods that animals eat.

Scotch broom, which was mostly limited to Vancouver Island, is now moving onto the mainland.

Bev Agur, a member of the Broombusters Invasive Plant Society, commended the effort to clear Memory Island Provincial Park, and is pleased that the CVRD, BC Parks and their partners intend to continue to work in the park over the next few years to clear away any Scotch broom that will grow from the seeds of the removed plants.

鈥淚t will need to be done every year for a few years to completely clear the island of the plants, but it will take less and less time each year,鈥� she said.

鈥淪cotch broom need lots of sunshine to take hold and if other plants are allowed to grow, they will provide shade that will make it more difficult for the broom seeds to grow. These projects have been successful in the past and there are some parks that now have no broom at all as a result.鈥�

Asked if she thought Scotch broom could be completely eradicated on Vancouver Island, Agur acknowledged it would be a very difficult task to accomplish.

鈥淏ut, for now, we can control them in our parks, along the roads and on private properties where the owners take on the task of removing the plants,鈥� she said