PKOLS – Mount Douglas Conservancy

PKOLS-Mount Douglas is Saanich’s largest protected Coastal Douglas-fir forest. Our nature preserve is in a narrow climatic region with a Mediterranean-like climate that allows these trees to grow; unfortunately, through many factors, these forests in this zone are mostly unprotected and diminishing quickly. We are fortunate to have these forests in under the protection of the Charter, so we can pass down this preserve to our children. We are thankful that the Saanich Environmental Official Community Plan (OCP), calls for the protection of air, land, and water quality and the biodiversity of existing natural areas and ecosystems. This plan further states, “While use of the parks will undoubtedly increase as the region grows, the rare and valuable natural resources within the park natural areas must be protected.”

The following article in the Rain Coast Conservation Foundation talks about how, for both Washington State and BC, these critical forests contain a “profound amount of micro-habitat diversity in this area.”

Why is the CDFCP Region at Risk?

“The CDFCP Region is at risk of losing many of the species, relationships, and healthy ecosystems that define it. Confined to a small area on south-eastern Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, the natural ecosystems are competing with human pressures, including development, industrial landscape use, increasing numbers and frequency of invasive species, and increased recreational use. Some of the ecosystems associated with the CDFCP Region, such as Coastal Bluffs, Garry Oak ecosystems, and wetland ecosystems, have lost well over 75% of their former area.” (from CDFCP site)

• The Coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone (CDF zone) is the smallest and most at-risk zone in BC and is of conservation concern (Biodiversity BC, 2008).
• The CDF zone is home to the highest number of species and ecosystems at risk in BC, many of which are ranked globally as imperilled or critically imperilled (BC CDC, 2012).
• The global range of the CDF lies almost entirely within BC, underscoring both its global uniqueness and BC’s responsibility for its conservation.
• Of all the zones in BC, the CDF has been most altered by human activities. Less than 1% of the CDF remains in old-growth forests (Madrone, 2008) and 49% of the land base has been permanently converted by human activities (Hectares BC, 2010).
• The trend of deforestation and urbanization continues and has resulted in a natural area that is now highly fragmented with continuing threats to remaining natural systems.
• Approximately 11% of the CDF zone is protected in conservation areas⁶.
• The extent of disturbance combined with the low level of protection places the ecological integrity of the CDF zone at high risk (Holt, 2007).

References

• Coastal Douglas-fir Conservation Partnership
• Douglas-fir/Dull Oregon-Grape by J. Pojar, S. Flynn, and C. Cadrin
• The story of Coastal Douglas-fir forests: So much more than just forests.

When did you hear only nature – no traffic or other city noises? Increasing urbanization comes complete with noise from traffic, leaf blowers, lawnmowers, high-pitched backup warning signals, and on and on. At the same time, places of solitude, places where one can hear nature, and places of natural quiet are steadily disappearing. In these natural areas, noise pollution can also have a detrimental impact on wildlife. The doubling of background noise can reduce where an animal might hear predators to a quarter of the original area; likewise, the detection area for animals or birds that use hearing to find prey or mates may also be reduced by 75%. The result is a higher risk of predation and an overall reduction of usable habitat for the preserves’ inhabitants.

The PKOLS-Mount Douglas Conservancy has appreciated the natural quiet deep within PKOLS-Mount Douglas; these sounds of nature and natural quiet are essential resources to be valued and preserved. There are many natural quiet locations throughout the Preserve, and we have begun a sound mapping project to document this soundscape.

Organizations elsewhere also recognize quiet as a valuable resource; there is an excellent movement in Olympic National Park to preserve “one square inch of silence” where “noise-free intervals” are measured as the time when there are no human-generated sounds, including airplanes (www.onesquareinch.org). The US National Park Service considers natural quiet sufficiently important that they have a Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, recognizing that visitors come to preserve to hear natural sounds and to escape traffic and city noises; the division monitors tour flights and also takes action on sounds generated outside the parks that adversely affect the natural soundscape. PKOLS-Mount Douglas deserves similar protection (though we have no expectations regarding low-flying noisy aircraft…yet!).

Where is your favourite “natural quiet” area in PKOLS-Mount Douglas?

References

• CBC interview of the quiet soundscapes within the Park
• BBC article about Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist
• VicNews article on park volunteers seeking the sound of silence
• Victoria News article on locating the quiet in PKOLS-Mount Douglas
• US National Parks Service, Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division
• A musician who works to protect the earth’s last remaining quiet places.

The petition below is being circulated by a group of concerned stewards and volunteers, from “Saanich’s Pulling Together program.” We greatly appreciate all the work that Saanich Parks staff do in supporting restoration work and volunteers in this fantastic and unique program. However, there is a shortfall in public education about the park, climate impacts, increase population and significant increases in park usage. As a result, there has been a rapid loss of biodiversity, rogue trails through sensitive areas, and a rapid increase in invasive species in areas already previously cleared.

We have attached to this email a petition to Council to be signed by interested Saanich Parks volunteers and supporters. You can support our efforts in several ways:

• Read the attached petition to Saanich Council, which outlines our concerns and proposed solutions/suggestions. 
• If you agree with and wish to have your name included as a signatory on the petition, please forward your full name, Saanich park connection, resident municipality and postal code by March 5, 2023 to Ted Lea tedloralea@shaw.ca
•  We intend to present the petition to the Saanich Council on Monday, March 6 at 7 pm.
• Please forward this message to lead stewards, volunteers and supporters within your own network.

Further Information

Video documentation of extensive park damage by poorly managed dogs

Maple trees are ancient, going back a million years or more. Of 128 species of maples, the bigleaf maple, Acer macrophylum, is the only one native to northwest coastal regions. These multi-trunked giants are the tallest of the maples typically ranging from 12-23 metres tall, some recorded as tall as 48 metres! Bigleaf maples also have the largest leaves of any tree in North America! Some reportedly reaching 60 cm wide, although the average size is about 30 cm. Tree leaves act as solar panels and allow the tree to store energy from the sun. Because bigleaf maples have huge leaves, they can store a lot of energy which will be converted to food through photosynthesis. Maples are very often seen in riparian zones after fires or logging since they have high productivity rates and easily regenerate. They can grow over 3 metres in 1 year. They have evolved with local insects and disease pathogens therefore disease and pest problems tend to be minimal, and survival rate of these trees is typically high. They can live to 300 years or more in the right conditions.

Maples Give Back to Nature.

Maples are important to the ecosystem in which they live. Plants, animals, soil, and even aquatic life benefit from these majestic giants. During growth bigleaf maples require high amounts of nutrients along with water, which they absorb from the soil. Trees have small tubes, called xylem, that extend from its roots and run throughout the tree transporting water and nutrients; this is the sap. The entire tree becomes rich in nutrients, and the bark especially high in calcium. This is ideal for air plants like mosses, liverworts, and licorice ferns. Air plants don’t require soil to grow and thrive on the bigleaf maples nutrient rich bark as substrate.

Moss load on bigleaf maple trees is typically the greatest of all the tree species in the Pacific northwest. In coastal rain forests a bigleaf maple could be supporting up to 1 ton of mosses. These trees are experts at aerial gardening.

In fall, bigleaf maples produce a lot of leaf litter. Their leaves are enormous. High nutrient content in leaves promotes quick decomposition, typically within a year. As leaves break down, nutrients are released back into the soil, improving soil quality. In addition, a deep widespread root system holds soil in place, and prevents it from becoming compact. This allows water to soak into the ground instead of flowing over the surface and washing away loose soil. Widespread leaves and branches act as a wind break and rain control so soil is not blown away or washed out. Thus, bigleaf maples help minimize erosion.

Long leafy branches provide a source of shade and shelter in the summer. As a bigleaf maple grows it drops its lower branches, creating nooks and crannies in the tree that small animals and birds love to nest in. Branches that fall on the ground provide woody debris for other plants to germinate on and give shelter to small creatures. When the branches fall into the creek they enhance the habitat quality for aquatic life. Maplewood decays more rapidly than other wood because of its high nutrient content, providing organic matter that is readily available as food in the water. Branches hanging over the creek also provide a tasty snack for fish when bugs fall into the water.

Early in spring, maples are a very important nectar source for bees and insects coming out of hibernation. They have an abundance of flowers which provides a much-needed food source after a long sleep. When their seeds spin to the ground in late spring, they provide food for various critters.

Maples in Danger

Big leaf maples are being impacted by climate change, and instances of die-off have been increasing over the past decade. Rising temperatures and drought conditions are making survival more challenging for bigleaf maples. During extremely dry conditions, bubbles can form in a xylem tube, possibly rendering it unusable forever. If a tree cannot get enough water or nutrients, it will inevitably die.

In some areas, bigleaf maples are reportedly producing smaller leaves with a yellowish scorched appearance, and leaves are falling much sooner than they should. This is especially evident near roads and developed urban areas where temperatures are higher. Without healthy leaves, photosynthesis can’t happen, and a vicious cycle begins. The tree gets stressed and must put energy into simply surviving instead of growing large leaves; however, without these large leaves, the tree is unable to produce enough food, which causes it more stress. A stressed and weakened state makes the tree more vulnerable to pests, disease, and extreme weather, such as wind and ice storms.

Climate extremes are an issue when the weather warms up for a few weeks and triggers the tree to produce new buds, then suddenly drops. New buds could freeze, dry out, and die. This results in the loss of a whole phase of new growth, which took up much of the tree’s energy reserve to produce. If the tree is already in a weakened state, replacing these buds could be a struggle and could result in starvation the following year.