The County of Essex will start its annual roadside weed control program on June 1, 2026, sending crews along roughly 250 kilometres of rural roads to spot-spray noxious weeds. The work runs through June 30 and covers 21 road segments, including two in the Amherstburg area.
County Road 18, from Highway 3 to Road 5, and County Road 20, from Shaw Drive to the Kingsville boundary, are set for treatment. Together those two stretches total about 62 kilometres. Three Health Canada-approved herbicides — Clearview, Gateway Spray Adjuvant, and Navius FLEX — will be applied directly to invasive plants that pose risks to public health and farm fields.
The county uses an exemption under Ontario’s cosmetic pesticide ban that allows spraying to protect public safety. Target weeds include wild parsnip, which can cause skin burns, and poison ivy. In a separate order issued the same week, the county also told private landowners they must destroy noxious weeds on their own properties by June 30, or the municipality may step in and bill them for the work.
Anyone with questions about the roadside spraying can call the county at 1-888-553-5588.
