One of my favourite places in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve are the dunes at Wickaninnish Beach. It is unusual to see many (if any) people in the dunes so it is easy to imagine the wildness of the place, despite the signs and tracks of people who have gone before you. From a botanical perspective it is a very …
Dunes
Gorgeous Gold Star in Bloom
Spring is definitely here on Vancouver Island. Forget about the crocuses and snow drops and all of those other flower bed plants, the true signs that winter is moving on are the return of the Pacific Herring and the small yellow bloom of Gold Star (Crocidium multicaule). While it is hard not to notice the herring spawn, the diminutive Gold …
Sand Patterns
Long curves of rippled sand mark the beach where Sandhill Creek empties into the Pacific Ocean. I’ve been busy working on a project related to the sand dunes at Wickaninnish Beach and haven’t had as much time to devote to my blog as I’d like. However, in the process of sorting through vast numbers of dune related images I stumbled …
Learning about Ligules
I’m out on the west coast of Vancouver Island this weekend finding out more about Parks Canada’s dune restoration program in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. European Beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria) creates a wall at the edge of the dunes that prevents sand movement. Sand dunes up and down the west coast of North America are being choked with introduced grasses, …
Dune Tansy Revisited
Dune Tansy (Tanacetum bipinnatum ssp. huronense) can be found along the edge of the beach at Schooner Cove in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. While out at Schooner Cove last week I decided to check out the small sand dunes for a number of dune plants. It was here at the top of the beach that I found two species …
Schooner Cove Searockets
Last week I hiked out to do some intertidal exploration at the wonderful rocks at Schooner Cove, a truly inspiring part of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and at a low tide, spectacular for marine life. However, the small dune ecosystem along the shore of this remote cove is also fascinating. Two species of searockets grow in the dunes in …
Reintroducing Pink Sand-Verbena: A Rare West Coast Plant
After a less than satisfactory morning exploring the intertidal zone at Little Beach, Terrace Beach and Big Beach in Ucluelet (mainly due to the abundance of seaweed) I shifted gears and in the late afternoon. I decided to check out the Parks Canada Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellate breviflora) reintroduction project at the dunes at Wickaninnish Beach in Pacific Rim National …