Raccoons and Poison Ivy | The Case of Oka

For years, Oka National Park has faced two persistent problems: a proliferation of poison ivy and particularly brazen raccoons. SEPAQ has had to resort to drastic measures to regain control.

Donald Rodrigue, a biologist who worked for a long time in Quebec parks, remembers that the poison ivy problem was already very worrying in Oka in the 1990s. The situation persisted.

“In 2015 or 2016, I went camping for a week at Oka Park and my campsite was literally surrounded by poison ivy,” Rodrigue recalls. “You really had to be careful. You can imagine a small family with children playing with a ball and dropping it. It’s pretty much certain that you’re going to come into contact with poison ivy. To me, it’s a public health issue.”

Poison ivy sap causes skin irritation in most people.

He says that the park people worked for a long time before finding an effective solution. In particular, they carried out treatments with saline solutions.

“It had an impact on the poison ivy, but it wasn’t enough to solve the problem. Plus, there was the salt buildup in the soil component: salt doesn’t break down quickly, so we couldn’t go any harder.”

A goat is also said to have been used to devour the grass.

“It was cute, but it wasn’t really a feasible solution,” says Mr. Charest.

SEPAQ ended up asking specialists from Laval University to conduct a literature review on the available strategies.

The SEPAQ therefore opted for localized spreading on poison ivy leaves, prioritizing the areas around campsites and trails.

“It greatly reduces the density of poison ivy,” says Mr. Charest. “Afterwards, there is control that can be done with manual extraction.”

The park is obviously raising awareness among visitors so that they learn to recognize and avoid poison ivy. By not leaving the trails, for example.

“It’s a good tool to convince people to respect the regulations,” adds Mr. Charest.

Invasive raccoons

The raccoons’ lack of restraint was another nuisance for visitors to Oka Park.

Robert Leclerc recounts a particularly eventful night camping in the late 2010s: a raccoon stole a bag of trash right next to him while he was doing the dishes. Then, a group of raccoons tried to stop him from going into his vehicle, baring their fangs. Finally, a raccoon tried to get in to steal a bag of chips that was on the dashboard.

“Raccoon activity is most intense near beaches,” says Leclerc. “The beach brings barbecues. So there are a lot of leftovers that the animals pick up.”

René Charest says that Oka Park has been “quite successful” in solving this problem in recent years.

“In 2017 and 2018, we did a big project, there was a lot of awareness-raising among employees, so that they would pass on the right messages, and among customers, so that they would adopt good behaviors,” he says. Because when there are problems with raccoons, it’s generally because someone gave them food.”

The park also realized that it wasn’t all raccoons that were problematic, but some individuals who clearly understood the connection between humans and food.

“We will never succeed in desensitizing them.”

So it’s about eliminating these incorrigible individuals. And not just moving them.

“If you move raccoons, you move the problem somewhere else. It can also move diseases and parasites.”

SEPAQ has also installed more comprehensive locking systems on ready-to-camp tents.

In short, you should not leave food lying around or feed a wild animal. No matter how cute it may be.