Participants head out to practice their new covenant monitoring skills at Morrell Sanctuary, located near VIU.
Photo Credit Matt Parker.
On February 5th and 6th, TLC held informational and training sessions for covenant monitoring and restoration at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo. Friday afternoon saw 33 people gathered together to learn about conservation covenants from both TLC staff member Torrey Archer and Nanaimo Area Land Trust’s (NALT) Executive Director Gail Adrienne.
Participants learned about the power of conservation covenants and the local conservation initiatives that NALT has championed, including their recent success in protecting Mount Benson from future logging and development. Participants then learned about the nitty-gritty of conservation covenants: what areas are suitable for covenants, benefits to landowners when establishing covenants on their land, and the biological inventories necessary to create proper baselines for covenants. After a short break, session-goers learned how to understand a typical covenant agreement and all the “legal-ese” that goes with it, as well as how to complete the standardized monitoring forms TLC uses for effective covenant monitoring.
Participants discuss covenant monitoring strategies with TLC’s Covenant Manager Torrey Archer (in red).
Photo Credit Janie Dubman.
The following day participants had the chance to practice their new covenant monitoring skills at Morrell Sanctuary, located near VIU. While the previous day’s weather was rainy and cold, volunteers were treated to sunny skies for their outdoor excursion. The group worked at two different sites in the forest: one beside a stream at a low elevation point of the forest, and the other site further uphill. The lower site was very wet, and dominated by species such as Western red cedar and sword fern, while the higher site was a rocky outcrop dominated by Douglas-fir and mosses, with a few arbutus trees thrown in for good measure. Identifying which species are present can tell you a lot about a site and its nutrient availability – this technique is known as using “indicator species”, as they indicate certain soil and abiotic conditions – this lets you know which other species can possibly grow there. Essentially, if you see Western red cedar in a forest, that typically means you are in a wetter area as these trees like to keep their feet wet. Conversely, if you see arbutus trees, these are most often found on rockier, drier soils. By knowing your species, you can make educated guesses about what’s going on in the soil… and once you know what your soil capability is, you can plant site appropriate species when engaging in restoration.
After recording data at each site and learning how to establish photo-point monitoring sites, the work was done and new skills were obtained – all while having fun in the sun! It is TLC’s hope that these trained individuals will now volunteer for NALT or other land trusts to ensure quality covenant monitoring continues.
If you are interested in covenant monitoring and/or restoration, please don’t hesitate to contact Torrey at covenants@conservancy.bc.ca or 250-479-8053.
The higher site participants used to practice monitoring was a rocky outcrop dominated by Douglas-fir, arbutus and mosses.
Photo Credit Torrey Archer.
The group at a low elevation point of the forest which was dominated by species such as Western red cedar and sword fern. Photo credit Torrey Archer.
Trained monitors can volunteer with land trusts, like TLC, to aid in the ongoing protection of sensitive ecosystems.
Photo credit Janie Dubman.
