Fleming College Receives $360,000 to Fight "Canada's Worst Invasive Plant"

The money will go to fighting a highly prevalent aggressive reed commonly known as invasive phragmites.

FLEMING COLLEGE PHOTO

Fleming is getting the funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF).

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue, on behalf of François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry made the announcement last week.  

Fleming will partner with Nature Conservancy Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Saiwa Inc. to innovate the fight against what’s being billed as “Canada’s worst invasive plant”.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada with their important conservation work,” said Fleming president Maureen Adamson. “Together, we will provide conservationists and resource managers with valuable tools to effectively combat the spread of invasive plants that threaten our native vegetation.” 

The 3 year project is led by the researchers from Fleming’s Centre for Applied Machine Intelligence and Integration Technologies (CAMIIT) and School of Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences (SENRS).

It aims to advance automation in the detection and surveillance of the invasive plant using machine vision algorithms, remote sensing data, and innovative drone technologies.

CAMIIT’s Dr. Fereydoon Diba, in collaboration with Saiwa Inc., will develop a specialized drone with machine vision capability to recognize the invasive plant.

SENRS professor, Dr. Josh Feltham, along with Nature Conservancy Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada will collect drone surveillance data.

Fleming students will assist with the project’s data collection and hardware development.

“This collaboration highlights the capabilities that technology and innovation can bring to natural resources, and the real-world problems that can be solved through applied research,” added Adamson. “It’s promising to see CAMIIT and SENRS combining forces with such highly respected national conservation organizations.”

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