Weed Awareness

Weed Control Policy

Each year the Greenview Agriculture Services Department strives to inspect half of the Municipal land. We currently have four Weed Inspectors who inspect the developed/agricultural land (White Zone), four inspectors who inspect in the oil field areas (Green Zone) and one inspector who inspects the Hamlet of Grande Cache (Urban Zone).

Annually we conduct approximately 3500 inspections within Greenview.

As per the Weed Control Act of Alberta, any Noxious weeds must be controlled (to inhibit the growth or spread, or to destroy) and any Prohibited Noxious weeds must be destroyed (to kill all growing parts, or to render reproductive mechanisms non-viable).

Once an inspection is completed, a report is generated. If the property has an invasive species present (as defined by the Weed Control Act of Alberta) a letter is created informing the landowner of the invasive plants present, where they are located on their property and what their responsibilities are as the landowner in regards to these invasive plant species.

There are four types of letters that may be sent with an Inspection Report;

  • Alert Letter: This letter is used as our initial correspondence regarding an invasive plant species present on a property. The aim is to kindly make the landowner aware of the infestation and open discussion for control options
  • Warning Letter: This letter is used when it appears that the landowner has not attempted any control work on a property over a period of time. In such cases, the infestation appears to not change in abundance and/or increase in area and no contact has been made by the landowner to state their intentions or advise us of their weed management plan.
  • Notice and Notice Letter: This is a legal document issued when any properties have a Prohibited Noxious weed (a Notice is issued immediately once a Prohibited Noxious weed is found, as per the Weed Control Act) or an infestation of a Noxious weed is present and the landowner has been given a period of time to conduct control work and none has been observed (the final decision to issue a Notice for a Noxious weed infestation is left up to the Manager and/or the Assistant Manager of Agriculture Services).
  • Late Season Alert Letter: This letter is used when the optimal time for control on an invasive species has passed. Please note that different species of plants have different time frames for optimal control.

This inspection process has been put into place to help protect the land from being taken over by a monoculture, which can be non-palatable and/or toxic to wildlife, livestock and the human population. Continuing to work together, we can excel at protecting our greenspace (so wildlife can graze), our agriculture land (keeping a higher yield on crops and grazing areas) and our own yard sites from invasive species.