If you have visited Neck Point Park in Nanaimo you have passed over Walley Creek where it flows into Hammond Bay. This section of the creek, upstream of Morningside Drive, flows between private properties and a piece of City of Nanaimo park land. The park is enjoyed by students from École Hammond Bay Elementary School and children from the surrounding neighbourhood. It has a small wetland with potential habitat for salamanders, frogs, and all sorts of mammals and birds. Illegal dumping of yard waste and garbage over the years has done serious damage to a steep slope on the north side, eroding the bank and degrading the riparian zone. It is the location of one of our RDN CWMN water quality monitoring sites, and an area where we have worked hard removing garbage and invasive species in the past two years, with help from Grade 7 École Hammond Bay students. Dave and Brad added logs and stumps. Nina secured delivery of soil and bark mulch. Linda and Nina coordinated volunteers (neighbors, Dover Bay eco-club, family members, and Nature Kids)
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Our group was formed when each of us independently contacted the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust wondering if any work was being done to steward Walley Creek in North Nanaimo. One of our members lives right where Walley Creek reaches the ocean in Hammond Bay; for decades she has watched and tended the stream, concerned by garbage washing downstream and the lack of care for the riparian integrity. The Executive Director of NALT, Gail Adrienne put us in contact, and we started by asking our local Fisheries and Oceans Community Advisor to help us. Biologist Dave Clough spent time with us walking the upper watershed, near Springfield Place, and the lowest part of Walley Creek, where it empties into Hammond Bay near Morningside Drive. We came up with a long list of priorities for further research and restoration activities, including:
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