From restoring a salt marsh to creating wildlife corridors, Vancouver's biodiversity strategy aims to make wild animals at home in the city
By: Jen St. Denis Metro Published on Fri Apr 21 2017
The Vancouver Park Board biodiversity strategy
is starting to take root, one year after the wide-ranging plan was
approved to bring wildlife back to the city. “There’s a social aspect to
nature in the city — people want to be able to experience it as part of
their daily lives,” said Nick Page, a biologist with the park board.
Here are five projects or goals the park board is working on right now to bring the wild back to Vancouver.
1. Salt marsh restoration in New Brighton Park
Vancouver has drastically altered its
shoreline to make more space for industry and housing. But in New
Brighton Park on Burrard Inlet, Port Metro Vancouver and the park board
are working to remove fill that was placed there in the 1960s and
restore a tidal salt marsh. The aim is to restore a habitat that once
supported clam beds, juvenile salmon and shore birds.
2. Native plants instead of invasive species
In the 1940s and 50s, Everett Crowley Park in
Vancouver’s Killarney neighbourhood was a city dump. Today, the park
board is removing invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry and
Japanese knotweed that have flourished — but make it impossible for
native tree species to grow. Restoring native plants creates a more
welcoming home for native B.C. wildlife such as squirrels, woodpeckers
and owls.
3. Bring buried creeks back into parks
Work is underway to reintroduce a creek back
to New Brighton park, terminating in the salt marsh. That waterway is
proposed to extend through Hastings Park along with a restored wetland.
Tatlow Park in Kitsilano, where a stream once flowed, is another site
the park board is considering. Bringing streams out into the open
instead of flowing through pipes is actually cheaper and keeps the water
cleaner, Page said.
4. Create wildlife corridors
To thrive, wildlife needs to be able to move
around the city, Page said. So finding ways to make corridors through
the city — like the still-under-design Arbutus Greenway — is also an
important part of the strategy.
5. Return of the wild
One way to measure the success of biodiversity
efforts is when animals come back to areas they left decades ago.
Beavers are a common sight in Stanley Park — but recently they returned
to Charleson Park in south False Creek. Page would like to see the
return of smaller predators such as the American marten because that
would signal the ecosystem is healthy enough to support the full food
chain. He acknowledges humans and animals can come into conflict in the
city. But “I think we can co-exist. Our alternatives are much more
difficult and probably unsuccessful in terms of trying to manage or
remove [animals].”
Take Action
Plant a native species and pollinators for a
bee-friendly garden, with a wide range of flowering plants that will
provide blooms from early spring right through the growing season into
fall. Not only will the bees visit, it will attract birds and
butterflies as well. For tips visit feedthebees.org.
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