Some like it HOT.... in the Campell River Estuary: The recent heatwave and drought conditions have changed the pace of work for Greenways crews, and our partners. We have been very busy trying to beat the scorching temperatures to keep our native trees and shrubs quenched while making sure to keep up with the spread of invasive plants. Some of which really seem to be enjoying the heat! Luckily, our crews managed to get ahead with yellow flag iris in the spring and early summer, so we have been able to respond to the heat where the work is most needed. Most days of late have begun with a very early morning watering of as many plants as we can, followed by an afternoon digging out invasive purple loosestrife from its roots. 

WATERING is a combination of using hoses from nearby businesses that have been generous enough to let us access their faucets or using a gas-powered pump and fire hoses to fill buckets and hand water plants in the less accessible areas. We have been very appreciative of several dedicated volunteers that signed up to assist us by taking on watering of some of the smaller plantings or joining us for our early morning watering sessions. One key volunteer has left us to fight fires in the interior for the rest of the summer so please let us know if you would like to try some watering yourself!

PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE is one plant that seems to be really enjoying the heat wave! Because purple loosestrife has invaded the tidal marshes in the estuary, it is watered daily and not effected by drought conditions. We have been lucky to be joined by crews from the Wei Wai Kum Coastal Guardians, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Sellentin's Habitat Restoration to have a very large combined crew of up to 12 people responding to the purple lossestrife in the estuary, allowing us to make a huge dent in the most dense areas found in Myrt Thompson, Ocean Blue (the shoreline to the west of Baikie Island), and Fred's Slough (between the Campbell River and Raven Trail). We will continue to work on this for the remainder of the summer ensuring that no flowers are allowed to go to seed this season.

The Wei Wai Kum Coastal Guardians have also been very busy this summer installing goose exclusion fences throughout the Campbell River Estuary. These fences have been found to be very effective in protecting the sensitive marsh habitats in the estuary from browsing from non-native populations of Canadian Geese (the native population migrates North in the summer months to breed). 

THANK YOU
We are grateful for the generous financial support of our funder, the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Fund, for on-going funding of our efforts in invasive plant removals, as well as watering and native species planting.