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Dune restoration at Wickaninnish
I'm working on a project with Parks Canada in Pac Rim that involves restoring the sand dune system on Wickaninnish beach. There's invasive beach grasses (European and American Beach Grass) and they are stabilizing the dunes. This is strangling out some blue- and red-listed species that thrive on open sand faces to survive, so what we are doing is bringing in a backhoe to remove the grasses and (hopefully!) re-activate the dune system. There's a parks interpreter for passers-by and lots of info for anyone who wants it!
Hopefully this works, it's a five year project and (barring any government issues) should put a pretty significant dent in the invasives. Speaking of sunshine, other than one morning of fog (and glass.... was a sweet dawn patrol) it was sunny the whole time we were up there.
Jordan Eamer
related links;
Restoring salmon streams and sand dunes By Silva Johansson, Special to Westerly News - canada.com
Extensive populations of Ammophila breviligulata Fern. (American beachgrass) were discovered during surveys of beach plant communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island - ou.edu
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