Kelowna Capital News – April 3, 2019
A warming planet is allowing invasive plants to thrive in Okanagan lakes.
James Littley, operations and grants manager with the Okanagan Basin Water Board, said milfoil thrives and spreads in warmer waters, which means more money spent to keep the invasive weed at bay.
Eurasian watermilfoil is a very aggressive invasive plant that kills native species, first identified in the Vernon area of Okanagan Lake in 1970. By 1974, the plant was well established in the main lakes of the Okanagan.
Environment Canada scientists recently released a report stating that Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.
The country is also not on track to hit its 2030 target in reducing greenhouse gases.