The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

EE i St all "A Family Tradition for 131 Years" Tiny beetle joins battle |- gs to save local wetlands [ia ~ FromPage 1 Biological Control Unit at the University of Guelph, Mrs. Galberg and the students -- Kathleen Carroll of Uxbridge Collegiate, Lisa Eddy of Port Perry High School and Mrs. Galberg's daughter Kelly, who goes to school at S.A. Cawker in Port -- gathered 1,200 adult Galerucella bee- tles and 1,500 larvae from a test site, and released them locally in mid-June. The sites chosen are a loosestrife-infested stretch of the Nonquon River at the inter- section of Reach St. and Hwy. 12 west of Port Perry, and at the Nonquon educa- tional centre on Scugog's 10th Line. Mrs. Galberg hopes the experiment will succeed on two levels. She'll have stu- dents monitoring the impact the beetles have on loosestrife over the next five years, providing them with a hands-on study in natural biological control. And early indications from similar experiments elsewhere in the province are that use of the Galerucella (pro- nounced gal-er-uh-chella) beetle is highly successful in battling loosestrife, a serious threat to wetlands. "I've worked (at the Nonquon educa- tional centre) for almost six years now, and I've seen loosestrife just skyrocket over that time," said Mrs. Galberg. "My hope is that this will take the educational centre toward actual action for the stu- dents. I want to see a lot of kids educated, and I want to see a lot of students feel they can make a difference by contribut- ing." They'll do so by monitoring the progress of the beetles, and, if all works according to plan, by recording a suppres- sion of purple loosestrife. That's not some- thing that will happen quickly, but the ultimate goal of the experiment here is management of a non-native plant that has spread with alarming speed, and endangers wetland areas, said Mrs. Galberg. Originally brought here from Europe, purple loosestrife is a strikingly beautiful plant. Its sinister aspect, however, is that it invades wetlands and can take over utterly, crowding out native plants like cat tails, which are essential to the life of the marsh. "Those (native) plants get forced out, and a species gets pushed out, and there- fore the biodiversity of the area gets way out of balance," said Mrs. Galberg. Loosestrife is a serious problem in Eastern Ontario and some northeastern states. And pockets here are choked with the tall, purple flowers. "If it were to spread along the Nonquon River to the point where it has now at Hwy. 12, I think you would see a real problem in the area," said Mrs. Galberg. NTER Galerucella. Two species Ee the tiny beetle -- it's about a centimetre in length -- both adult and larvae, are playing part in the local experiment. They were gathered at a site located at Dixie Rd. and the 401 highway in Metro, where University of Guelph researchers have planted the beetle fol- lowing years of laboratory research to ensure it could safely be introduced to the Canadian environment after | brought here from Europe. They are the only predators of loosestrife on this conti- nent. The bug lives its entire life on the pur- ple loosestrife plant. Its pupae cling to it, and larvae crawl on it. When Galerucella beetles reach adulthood, they spend their lives feeding on it. ~ The Dixie Rd. site, once completely infested by loosestrife, has been reclaimed by the beetle, said Jim Corrigan, the Guelph biologist who works on loosestrife management research with the university's Biological Control Unit. "We are unabashedly enthused about the project," Dr. Corrigan said. "I truly believe we've got the most advanced pro- - gram on the continent." Galerucella beetles have lived up to the hopes of researchers so far. While they showed an appetite for loosestrife in the lab, it was their release in the field that indicated they could be used effectively to manage loosestrife in Canada, said Dr. Corrigan. Guelph biologists transplanted beetles from test sites like the Dixie Rd. plot last year, and introduced them to ° loosestrife-infested wetlands at a number of locations. "Everything we've seen from year one is that those beetles are better than the ones we grew in the lab," fl said Dr. Corrigan. He said ~ the beetles' work is evident when they have defoliated a stand of loosestrife to the point where the distinctive purple flowers are not so evident. That stops the spread of the plant: "It doesn't kill them in one season; we don't know if they will kill them in a couple of seasons. But we do know there's no flowering. - "No flowers, no seeds," said Dr. Corrigan. "That's more than half the battle." The result is that native plants, such as the cat tail, so crucial to wetlands for its water-filtering abilities and as a habitat for wildlife, can reclaim a foothold. > ; "We are seeing replace- ment," said Dr. Corrigan. "We are seeing sites where loosestrife is suppressed to the point where it's becom- ing very hard to find. being "The biology of this pro- gram could not be going better." transfer to Scugog wetlands. They were delivered here in mid-June. '4 ER # 3 ph Guelph University graduate student Catherine S avs, a & olole (left) confers with high school students Kathleen Carroll and Lisa Eddy as they gather Galerucella beetles at the Dixon Rd. test site. Loosestrife has been all but eliminated at the site. QUALLY enthusiastic about the i Gaerucati ~ project is the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH), a province-wide network of naturalists for whom wetlands preservation is a high priority. Beth Mackay, an OFAH biologist based in Peterborough, said she's watching the Scugog project with keen interest, and hopes it will succeed as others in Ontario have so far. There are currently more than 160 sites at which the beetles have been released in the province, she said. "At some of the sites they're having a major, major impact," said Ms Mackay. en loosestrife first appeared on the scene several years ago -- and the omi- nous implications of its voracious appetite for our wetlands became apparent -- it seemed nothing could be done to stop its spread throughout the province. Some sites have become so choked with the plant that nothing is evident but the pur- ple flowers: > : "You dont have to be a scientist to imagine what that wetland looked like before purple loosestrife came in," said Ms Mackay. "Obviously that wetland is useless as a fish and animal habitat.' "Now, with biological control looking so promising, we are very excited about it," she added. Not only are the beetles help- ing curb the infestations in the areas they've been introduced to, they're mov- ing on and munching more loosestrife along water courses. That's what Mrs. Galberg hopes to see happen along the Nonquon. For a natu- ralist, the promise held forth by, the Galerucella beetle is a dream come true: Management of a potentially harmful plant without the use of chemicals, or total eradication of any species. In other words: Harmony. "(The beetles) will not eradicate it, but we hope they will bring about a balance," said Mrs. Galberg. "I'd like to see the Nonquon River not fall totally to the con- trol of the loosestrife." YNFORTUNATELY, not all the news about the program is good. University of Guelph funding for the project runs out this fall and so far, there's no indication the school will replenish the $40,000 it has until now ledged to the Biological Control Unit's 180,000 annual - budget, said Jim Corrigan. "We're running on borrowed money, and now it looks like borrowed time," he said in a recent interview. Other organizations, such as the OFAH and various provincial ministries, "contribute to the funding scheme, but without the university's share the project is doomed, said Dr. Corrigan. He'll be lob- bying federal politicians to try and raise the money he needs to continue his work. He said $50,000 will make the difference. "This ($50,000) is peanuts for what we do now," he argued. It appears there are precious few other organizations with the expertise, staffing or funding to do this type of work. The local conservation authorities have seen staff cut back drastically, and can only watch such efforts from the sidelines. The same is true for the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). "We're left without the mandate or the manpower to deal with biological control," said Glenn Price, area supervisor for Durham at MNR's Aurora District office. "To be honest, we don't have such a thing as a field staff anymore." He said it 'will be up to groups like OFAH, Ducks Unlimited and others who have begun wetland preservation initia- tives, to carry on the work. Otherwise, it doesn't appear there will be any kind of war declared on purple loosestrife by gov- ernments any time soon. "It's (loosestrife) kind of become some- thing that's viewed a lot like zebra mus- sels," said Mr. Price. "The bottom line is it's something we'll probably have to get used to." While he's less than optimistic about the future of his program at Guelph, Dr. Corrigan holds out hope for the work that's already been done in the field. "The good news is that whether we're here or not, the beetles are doing their job," he said. N I ------------------ a uu oun