The largest green space in southwestern Manitoba’s biggest city is preparing for thousands of visitors over the summer, and part of the planning involves dealing with some uninvited guests.
During a June 3 council meeting, Brandon city councillors raised concerns about what was termed a “gopher infestation” in the city.
But the executive director of the Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre says their numbers are on par with last year.
The centre works with the city on gopher control. It’s a delicate balance for the naturalized green space, but the crews “keep an eye on things,” said Dean Hammond.
“We monitor it to make sure that at the end of the day, the gophers aren’t becoming overwhelming, more so from a safety standpoint, either for people or for animals,” he said.
The centre sees thousands of visitors each year and will be especially busy through June into July, with events like its new River Roam Thursdays, National Indigenous Peoples Day and Canada Day bringing large crowds.
Gophers are all over at Riverbank, including the two big grass parking lots used for big events, Hammond said. For the most part, they’re not a concern unless there is a big mound that a car can’t drive over.
“We let the gophers be gophers for the most part,” Hammond said.
Perry Roque, Brandon’s director of parks and recreation services, says the Riverbank centre is one of 15 gopher hot spots in Brandon.
Some of the other spots are the Rideau Park in the east end, and around Brookwood in the west end.
“This was a year they really exploded, so obviously the conditions are right for them to reproduce and populate the parks with more and more gophers,” Roque said.
Safety hazards
The city works to make sure popular event areas aren’t riddled with gopher holes, and has contracted an exterminator to help deal with the gophers and treat areas that have been identified as problems, Roque said.
Right now, the city is targeting 15 different sites — including the Riverbank Discovery Centre.
Determining whether there’s an infestation involves looking at how many gophers there are and the extent of their burrowing damage, Roque said.
“If we don’t deal with them, those hazards will continue to happen and make our parks unsafe, where the last thing we want is someone to roll an ankle or fall and break a leg,” Roque said.
“So we need to address the gopher population in the parks and make sure our parks are maintained and safe.”
The city’s exterminator uses the poison-free rodenticide RoCon to treat gopher infestations. Problem areas will receive two separate treatments, followed by a third if needed, Roque said.
“We’re in the process of getting to all our sites in the city first round,” Roque said. “We don’t know exactly how long it’ll take.”
Once the gophers are removed, their holes will settle and collapse, he said.
Gophers can damage property, spread quickly
Roque says if Brandonites have a gopher infestation on their own property, they can call local companies in town that can come in and treat them, Roque said.
If left unchecked, they will damage property and their numbers can spread quickly, he said.
“They are a pest just like any other pests.… We don’t want anybody going near them or trying to chase them down,” Roque said.
The public can also report areas of city property where the gophers seem especially bad by calling 204-729-2345 or leaving a report on the City of Brandon’s website, he said.
Hammond says the Riverbank Discovery Centre has a bit of a different view of gophers, because it is a naturalized green space and gophers are part of nature.
But it’s also concerned for the safety of visitors.
“We let nature be nature until it comes to a point where the gopher situation is unsafe for our people who are coming down here or unsafe for our wildlife,” he said.
“We keep an eye out on things. We’re always watching how many holes there are, whether there’s potential trip hazards for people.”