What else works against the fast-growing weeds? Organizations disagree

taketonews

What can we still do to keep the fast-growing proliferation plants out of Drenthe’s nature? The plants threaten biodiversity. Research by RTV Drenthe shows that all terrain managers in Drenthe have a different approach, while mutual coordination is essential, according to the province.

Fast-growing invasive plants have no natural enemies and are a danger to Drenthe’s nature because they gain more and more ground without intervention. They outgrow other species, reducing biodiversity. The province of Drenthe is legally obliged to protect nature within the provincial borders. This also includes these so-called ‘invasive exotics’. According to the province, terrain managers bear that responsibility.

Some site managers are trying to keep these plants out of nature with various projects and measures. Every year they spend more than 3 million euros on combating it. In its flora and fauna implementation plan, the province writes that ‘cooperation by all parties involved is essential to achieve results.’ But how good is that cooperation if all site managers have a different approach?

RTV Drenthe spoke with all terrain managers in the province and they differ in opinion and approach. Where one site manager allocates tons of money for the control, the neighbor sometimes does almost nothing. For example, Bertil Zoer of the Drentse Landschap Foundation says about the Japanese knotweed that “indiscriminately fighting in most cases no longer makes sense”, while Natuurmonumenten would rather have the plant gone today than yesterday.

“Some plants are quite mobile,” explains Wilfred Reinhold, chairman Platform Invasive Exotics. “If you look at a water crassula (aquarium plant, ed.), it can already be spread by birds. If you think very much from a terrain, there is a risk that you miss the overarching problem.” Conversely, according to Reinhold, it is also possible to learn from each other in this way.

According to Hans Alting of Staatsbosbeheer, it is logical for site managers to focus on their own area. “The problems are often very local. Depending on the place, you can determine which measures to take. If it is an area with cultural-historical value, then you cannot excavate plants there, for example, then you will have to think of other measures.”

Mutually, according to Alting, knowledge is exchanged. “But you don’t have an approach that is applied everywhere. One area is not the other,” he explains. “There is generally no coordination, we only enter into discussions at the border.”

Everything has been tried against the Japanese knotweed for years. Think of electrocuting, burning or boiling the roots. The water crassula is even less known. Yet there are also far-reaching measures against this plant. A whole fen has been dug out on the Dwingelderveld to get rid of the plant.

Volunteers such as Joop Verburg from Zuidwolde inventory every square meter in nature in search of these feared plants. “You expect something to be done with that information,” he says. But in practice, he says, this is disappointing.

Since last year, the Japanese Knotweed has been subject to a ban on trade and transport, which Verburg and his contacts in the House of Representatives have made efforts to achieve. But remarkably enough, that ban does not yet apply to the water crassula. The NVWA advised the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in 2021 to take measures because of the high risk of the plant, but the water crassula can still be bought for two decades.

See how easy it is in the video.

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