Leader: Ian Clague; Co-leader: Nigel Pack

Text by Ian & Nigel; Photos by Nigel Peck

After days of record setting rainfalls, wind warnings, and physical disasters around southern British Columbia, we were blessed with gorgeous weather for the November 16th interpretative walk in the Pacific Spirit Park, led by Ian Clague. It was a beautiful day!

Starting our walk at Camosun Bog, we noted that the main confers growing there, thriving in the rich organic and wet soil, were shore pine and hemlock. Shore pine (Pinus contorta) are uncommon on the coast but very common in central and northern BC, where they are known as lodgepole pine. We also noted that growing profusely in the Bog were Labrador tea, bog laurel, and huckleberry.

Moving on, we walked through an extensive area composed of old construction fill dumped there during the excavation of the Sedgewick Library at UBC in the late 1960’s. This fill became fertile ground for the appearance of a red alder forest. Alder is one of the first trees to colonize disturbed soil, because it has the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into poor soil. Now reaching the end of their lifespan, the alders are subject to windfall and rot, opening the area to more growth of various invasive plants, but also new opportunities for manual reforestation with native species. 

To the west of the Sedgewick fill area we came upon an area of significant second-growth conifers, primarily Douglas fir and western cedar. Some are now of impressive size since the area was first logged in the late 1800’s. Unfortunately, even these large second growth trees pale in comparison to the size of the old growth cedar stumps still visible today on the forest floor. 

Heading further west we entered a mixed deciduous/conifer forest including, amongst others, cedar, fir, hemlock and bigleaf and vine maple, Indian plum, cottonwood, and bitter cherry. The many native shrubs seen include salmonberry, thimbleberry, elderberry, hardhack, ocean spray, salal, and many varieties of ferns, the most common being sword fern, one of the few that remain evergreen over the winter. 

Now, turning north we noted that forest canopy darkened with an increasing conifer cover and, with lesser light reaching through, a decreasing understory of other vegetation. In the trees above can also be seen dwarf mistletoe, a parasitic species thankfully not common in the park. 

Finally, we passed through another area of overmature alder and cottonwood which exhibited an increasing number of invasive species taking advantage of the opening canopy, such as Himalayan blackberry, English holly and English ivy. Restoration work removing invasive plants and planting of native trees and shrubs, carried out by volunteers from Pacific Spirit Park Society in recent years, is already exhibiting impressive regrowth. 

Nearby also is a large open area of drowned tree skeletons resulting from the construction of an extensive beaver dam. This natural return of beaver to the park in recent years and the resulting wetland has also created the conditions for a large increase of bird activity here, overlooked by a nest occupied by two of the Park’s resident bald eagles. 

Avian highlights were concentrated right at the start the walk and around the edges of the park, with appearances by of House Finches, Bushtits, Juncos, and Chestnut Backed Chickadees. In the bog, Randy spotted Annas Hummingbirds and one Downy Woodpecker. In the more open area adjacent to the golf course, Mark spotted a Northern Flicker and a Pacific Wren. The thick of the coniferous forest saw very few birds until we re-emerged to less densely forested areas near the golf course. 

Water was abundant after all the rain but apart from a few dancing over flows of water and around puddles, we had more or less clear trails for good walking. We stopped for lunch at the park headquarters. After wandering around south of 16th avenue and then to the more northern portion of the park we returned back to our vehicles near the Camosun Bog. 

As a co-leader, for me it was a pleasure to meet and chat with a lovely group of pleasant and interesting people – it was just like the life before the pandemic. I was lucky enough to chat with most everyone and had a series of interesting conversations on a variety of topics. 

Finally, it must be mentioned how Ian ‘over-delivered’ on his description of what the walk would be. To be sure, it was enjoyable and interesting but also, rather than the six to eight kilometres length which Ian estimated, he provided a 13.5 km ramble through one of Vancouver’s most beautiful natural spaces. Ian has agreed to do another walk in the new year but plans to scale the walk back a bit so he does not tucker out his participants. 

We ended the day well exercised and thoroughly happy with this excellent outing. 

Thank you, Ian!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•