Comparing sites..

Question 1

Cowichan Oak Preserve

Answer 1

Restoration - burned with frequency (historically)

Big changes - new exotic species & grazing

Jurisdiction - municipality and stakeholders

Management - Cobble hill gives fire permits to burn and maintain the Gary Oak ecosystem

                     - Mostly exotics grasses have moved in - have harvested some and are growing native and planting, but it is a struggle
                      - Native plants don't tend to seed from very far from plant, so need to seed and/or propagate

Research - monitoring every five years (vegetative survey) *but not totally effective, as not everything comes up in one year, so difficult to know with confidence

Question 2

Beacon Hill

Answer 2

Restoration - Gary Oak seedlings grown/ native garden
-trying to fix up the bluffs with native species to restore - in relation to aspect/ soil/ moisture levels - plans for dune grass

                    -Would like to burn to mimic natural system, but more difficult in the city - (smoke and uneducated tree huggers..)

Management - daily work
-plans to remove invasive grasses and replace with less aggressive, native species

                     -battle between native plant lovers and many in the city who prefer exotic species

Jurisdiction - municipal

Research - needed to explore invasive spp impact
- some being done to explore benefits of burning

Question 3

Island View

Answer 3

Jurisdiction - municipal, first nations, provincial, stakeholders, regional

Management - drained regularly - hydrologic disruption (also includes dykes)

                     - development has furthered a degraded ecosystem
                     - improper vegetative management has encouraged terrestrial growth in a once salt marsh

Research - ditch salinity, mosquito population levels, drainage/flooding levels, *need to expand monitoring projects

Restoration - Not much being done - too many people involved to make move