What would you like to know?

August 5, 2018

Part of our role as a regional experts on invasive species is to answer questions about any thing invasive-related from anyone! You can visit our office, call us, e-mail us, use the contact form on our website or contact us via social media. Inquiries also get downloaded to us from the Invasive Species Council of BC or other regional commitees, if the inquiry is from Metro Vancouver.

What do people ask? Well, lots of things, such as:

• What is this plant?
• Is ____ invasive?
• How do I manage knotweed?  Who can I call to treat my plants?  How can I do it myself?
• Why are invasives still sold?

The chart shows a breakdown of the most common kinds of questions we have received over the last decade.

Over this time period, we have observed that Metro Vancouver residents are becoming better informed than they were 10 years ago, but this has just changed the kinds of inquiries - we still get lots of requests for information and support, but the questions are becoming more sophisticated and detailed. The public is starting to identify some of the challenges/gaps in invasive species management, i.e. legislation and enforcement.

While it can be difficult to understand the complexities of management considerations, we are inspired by the interactions we have with people who contact us and are optomistic about the future of invaisve species management in Metro Vancouver. We will continue to collect data on the kinds of things people want to know to study trends, help predict questions that will come up (to inform education materials, website content, etc.) and to demonstrate that we provide a valuable service to the region.