With funding running out, P.E.I. Invasive Species Council looking to buy some time

The Prince Edward IslandInvasive Species Council says financial challenges are putting its work in jeopardy.

The group educates the public about invasive species on the Island, and goes out into the field to prevent thespread of noxious weeds that don't belong in the P.E.I. ecosystem.

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"The P.E.I. Invasive Species Council is the only organization that is focused on invasive species work," said co-ordinator Chase Guindon.

"We do have a lot of great partner organizations that help us accomplish this, but there's nobody else that does what we do."

The council is short about $50,000 for this fiscal year, said Guindon.

It needs that money to pay for its three staff members, whomGuindon called central to its mission, performing hands-on labour to physically removeinvasive plants.

We can accomplish pretty much everything that we accomplish with just person power and garbage bags and shovels. Chase Guindon

"We can accomplish pretty much everything that we accomplish with just person power and garbage bags and shovels. We really don't need a lot other than our staff," he said.

The council has been entirely government funded, said Guindon, but applications for that funding are increasingly competitive. In addition, there is no new funding available until the next fiscal year, which starts April 1, 2024.

The council is currently courting private funding sources, large organizations that may be able to help it through to the spring.

"Our goal is just to make to that point, from which I'm confident we can get some more of those grants," said Guindon."We just need to buy ourselves some more time."

The council currently operates on funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada's Forested Landscape Priority Place Fund, which is administered locally through the provincial government.

CBC News contracted the P.E.I. government Wednesday morning for comment on this story, but at time of publication had not received a response.