On November 4, nine MVIHES volunteers and a MOSAIC employee spread straw from 35 strawbales (provided by MVIHES) and planted 180 Western Red Cedar plugs (provided by MOSAIC) on two decommissioned road crossings on Shelly Creek.
The Gang, left to right: Pat Ashton, Rachel Pagdin, Dick Dobler, Rick Walz, Randy Walz, Brian Lea, Cliff Boorman, Paul Dagg, Rachel Shanner (MOSAIC). Photo by Project Leader Nancy Pezel.
The sites are on the MOSAIC property on Allsbrook Rd in Errington where MOSAIC removed culverts, recontoured the road approaches to make more natural streambanks and added rock to the stream bed, seen in the photos below.
The purpose of the straw application is to stabilize the bare soil on the sites, preventing erosion and sedimentation of the creek during heavy rainfall. And just in time, too, because the fall flush began a few days later.
Although this section of creek does not contain salmonid habitat, it is an area where human activities have disrupted the natural hydrology of the creek impacting salmonid habitat downstream. This disruption is resulting in more erosional flow events in winter and very low water levels in summer. Removing road crossings and recontouring road approaches to create more natural creek banks is one of the steps to restoring natural hydrology.
We have some great news! We have been approved by the Regional District of Nanaimo for Seed Funding so we can purchase trees and shrubs to add to the cedar plugs (seen in photos below) for creating a robust riparian zone for the restored sites on Shelly Creek. Stay tuned for a call out for volunteers to plant these trees and shrubs!
