New Brighton Park Restoration Initiative
Nature Vancouver has been invited to participate in restoration activities at New Brighton Park in cooperation with youth from the Hastings / Sunrise Community Centre. Invasive species to be removed include scotch broom, bull thistle and Himalayan blackberries. There is room for natural species planting, maintenance, and plant and insect monitoring through the year. One other exciting aspect will be the participation of the Cascade Bird Box Team to install bird boxes in the area. Please email nigel@naturevancouver.ca if this is a project you would like to get involved with.
‘First Pull’ Work Party – Report and Photos by Nigel Peck
On January 24, 2022, we had our first trial run in Scotch Broom pulling in New Brighton Park. This foray involved three members of Nature Vancouver meeting in the afternoon for a couple of hours and testing out loaned equipment from the Vancouver Parks Board. The broom pull went very well.
The ‘go to’ tools included a couple shovels and pruners, a specialized shrub puller called an ‘extricator’, and a small sized mattock which ended up being the star of the show. The mattock would be familiar to anyone who has attended NV summer camps as it is a mainstay of camp biffy hole digging. The mattock worked fabulously at digging around the roots allowing the shrub to be reefed out either by using the extricator or just by brute hand force in some cases.
A pleasant surprise was that the broom was not too difficult to get out of the ground. One possible reason for the ease might be the weather extremes with lots of rain saturating the ground and the freeze thaw cycles loosening the ground. In any case we must have pulled out a dozen or so Scotch Broom plants, accumulating a fairly substantial pile of debris which we left by the pathway for the Vancouver Park staff to pick up.
Apart from the excellent exercise of digging and pulling the Scotch Broom out, we had the pleasure of about five people stopping by to ask what we were doing or comment on how great it is to see the Scotch Broom being removed. One of the five indicated he is interested in helping out dependent on his time commitments. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the endeavour.
Our next effort will be on Saturday, January 29th which will allow people who work Monday to Friday to participate. It is scheduled to be rainy so it will be interesting to see what it’s like in less pleasant weather. For anyone interested, please contact Nigel at nigel@naturevancouver.ca.
