By Veronica Panama | June 26, 2025
When Scotch broom is in full bloom across B.C., it’s easy to spot, blanketing roadsides and hillsides in a sea of bright yellow. While it may look cheerful, this invasive plant spreads aggressively, posing a serious fire risk and threatening native ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
Why Is Scotch Broom a Problem?
- Fast spreading: Forming dense thickets, a mature plant can produce around 18,000 seeds per year that can survive in the soil for 30 to 80 years!
- Wildfire fuel: Its woody stems and oils make it highly flammable, increasing fire risk along roadsides, power line corridors, and around communities.
- Ecosystem disruption: By outcompeting native shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses, broom reduces biodiversity and degrades wildlife habitat.
A Grassroots Solution: Broombusters
Luckily, someone has been tackling the broom problem since 2006. Joanne Sales, a blueberry farmer on Vancouver Island, noticed Scotch broom was spreading on the roadside on either side of her farm. What started as a five-minute conversation with her local government grew into the volunteer-driven Broombusters, working to cut bloomin’ broom across the Island and Lower Mainland.
Joanne, now the executive director of Broombusters and ISCBC board member, believes that partnerships have been a key part of this growing movement. “That’s the basis of how Broombusters works, in partnership with local governments, ministries, media and communities. If someone wants to cut broom, they can contact us, and we try to support them.”
Information on cutting broom is now available to anyone interested. As a trusted advisor to many municipalities and communities, Broombusters has proven that controlling and even eradicating Scotch broom is possible.
Methods Matter
Over two decades, Broombusters has developed effective methods for controlling broom:
- Cut the broom in bloom: Spring is when broom is most vulnerable. The plant’s energy is above ground, producing flowers and seeds, while the roots are at their weakest—making it easier to kill by cutting. Summer’s dry heat helps finish off the plant by preventing it from resprouting. And bonus! Bloom time also makes it easy to spot.
- Cut Low, Right to the Ground: Leaving even an inch above ground allows regrowth. It is important to find the stalk and cut it at or below soil level. There is no need to dig or pull broom, as it doesn’t regrow from roots or branches if cut properly.
- Time It Right: Cutting before seed pods form is a must to prevent spread. Broom branches are harmless during this time and can be piled and chipped without spreading further.
“One good thing about Scotch broom is that it doesn’t regrow from the roots, or from pieces of roots or branches,” Joanne says. “That’s what makes broom manageable over time.”
One Size Does Not Fit All
Every invasive plant is unique and understanding its characteristics is crucial for effective management.
“[People] confuse the qualities and characteristics of Scotch broom with other invasive plants,” Joanne shares. When broom is pulled or dug out, it will do more harm than good because when the soil is disturbed, hundreds of dormant seeds are exposed to the sun and sprout.
Even Scotch broom should be cut only after taking into account many factors such as location, size, weather, and bloom time. It is important to ensure the timing is right before cutting broom.
Real Results, Real Community
Broombusters now has projects across multiple communities including Parksville Qualicum Area, Nanaimo, Coquitlam, Lantzville, Alberni Valley, Ladysmith, Powell River and many more. They have increased their reach, as individuals, communities, and municipalities get in touch. In 2024, over 600 volunteers cut broom on the Island, the Mainland and Sunshine Coast for over 6,000 hours. “There are volunteers who cut [broom] more than 200 hours a year,” says Joanne.
But the biggest win? Broombusters has partnered with a dozen local governments. Many municipalities remove the broom cut by volunteers, and some have even passed Scotch broom bylaws. In 2023, the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities and the Union of B.C. Municipalities passed a resolution calling for the control of Scotch broom, recognizing it as a serious ecological threat—one that damages biodiversity and fuels wildfires.
For Joanne, making Qualicum Beach “bloom-broom free” has been one of the greatest successes. Any broom that starts to regrow in the area is quickly removed by volunteers each spring, making it hard to spot any bloomin’ broom.
One of the main goals of Broombusters has been to educate people and to prove that Scotch broom can be controlled if removed properly. “But without question, our greatest success is that now everyone knows how and why to cut broom–and thousands of people in B.C. “Cut Broom in Bloom!” Joanne loves that the name has increased awareness of managing this invasive species.
Currently, a major concern for Broombusters is broom thriving under power lines, where it poses a significant fire risk. Other challenges arise when broom grows on privately owned land or land managed by multiple jurisdictions, making access and coordination difficult. Still, Broombusters continue removing broom, mostly on public land, while also working to raise awareness among landowners to support long-term solutions to this environmental threat.
“Broombusters creates an opportunity for community for so many people,” Joanne says, describing how strangers become friends as they choose to work together. “They are doing something positive for the environment and the community. That kind of involvement gives greater meaning to our lives”.
Want to get involved? Visit broomsbusters.org to learn how you, your community, or your municipality can take action.
Scotch broom can be managed with the right timing, the right knowledge, and people working together. Join the movement to “Cut Broom in Bloom” and help stop the spread of this destructive and dangerous invasive plant!
Together, we can stop the spread. Together, we’re stronger.
Veronica is an Invasive Species Coordinator at ISCBC. She values working in an inclusive and diverse environment that allows her to connect with people across Canada to discuss conservation initiatives, social resilience, and restoration topics. In her spare time, Veronica enjoys spending time in the forest, identifying species she encounters or at the beach with a book in her hand. You can reach Veronica at vpanama@bcinvasives.ca
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