Himalayan blackberry can be a real problem along riparian watercourses.  In disturbed, sunny areas, it chokes out native plants and reduces biodiversity.  It doesn't provide real shade to creeks and streams, and prevents older successional species like Fir and Cedar from getting established. 
​
Now Himalayan blackberry has a problem, and that's US!  We've been using a mattock to dig out blackberry roots, and this small tool makes easy work of digging out the root balls. It's SO satisfying to clear a small area in a short amount of time.  It's easier to carry out this work in the cooler months when we can wear long sleeves and pants to protect our skin from the thorns.  Wearing thin gardening gloves with a thicker leather pair of gloves on top helps protect hands, though some thorns still manage to get through!  We load the cut brambles on a tarp and haul loads away for disposal by the City.  Over several years, we've been able to suppress the Himalayan blackberry enough at the Morningside culvert that native Thimbleberry are thriving.  
Along the gravel path to the tennis courts in Morningside Park, the Oceanspray are finally getting a chance.  Persistence is paying off!

This fall we applied some of our PSF Community Salmon Program grant funds to an important planting effort in Morningside Park.   

We had a strong, vibrant crew of over 30 volunteers from VIU, NALT, and the Dover Bay eco-club.  

On this gorgeous fall day we set out once again to prevent the bank from eroding where Walley Creek flows behind private residences between Hammond Bay Road and Ecole Hammond Bay. 

We wonder if this problem was caused by the creek being moved?  There is a natural seep that flows from a different direction, past the tennis courts and through the salamander meadow.  The erosion is exacerbated by yard waste being thrown over the fence, though all but one neighbor has cleaned up their act.

In any case, our goal is healthy fish habitat, and keeping the creek from filling up with silt and soil if there are debris jams and high flows.  This design was suggested by Lindsey Haist of Alder Environmental, and it's been very successful so far.  Today we reinforced "benches" built in previous years, installed new ones, and planted sword fern and dull Oregon grape, hoping their roots will take hold.

We had a strong crew of family (Nina's husband, children and grandchildren, and Linda's husband and children), dedicated volunteers, and recent VIU grads to pull this off in a couple of hours.  We were so grateful for a delivery of healthy plants from Streamside to restore the biodiversity of this area.   The project was completed with support from the City of Nanaimo Community Watershed Restoration grant, project management and volunteer coordination in partnership with the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust, of which Walley Creek Streamkeepers is a committee.

There happened to be an interpretive tour of the salamander monitoring project in this area led by Elke Wind at the same time that we were working!  The group found three dead naked mole rats, that could have been victims of rat poison??  We also encountered some very angry wasps, who are cranky during this fall season and took it out on a couple of volunteers, ouch!

A tree came down across the creek several weeks ago, taking down the top of another tree and  leaving a big mess in its wake.  Unfortunately the branches and tree trunk squashed many of the plants from our fall planting project!
A small group of hardworking volunteers worked to remove the branches, leaving a log which will provide shade and hopefully stabilize the bank.
There are many trees remaining in this narrow corridor that are dead or dying.   
​This area continues to struggle from drought, and erosion in the riparian area.

Our group has a nice rhythm of spring/summer invasive removal and fall planting.  This has the goal of increasing biodiversity, stabilizing the stream banks to prevent erosion, and restoring the plant communities that were here pre-disturbance.

We are learning that it's not as simple as putting plants in the ground.  Despite best efforts at placement,  some plants get trampled, browsed by deer, suffer from summer drought, or don't make it for unknown reasons.  We've learned that ferns and Oregon grape are nearly indestructible, though they haven't survived well on the steep slope stabilization projects. 

The key seems to be considering which plants need "wet feet" - salmon berry and Cedar, for example, and which ones can tolerate drier conditions  - snow berry and pine.  Then adding lots and lots of bark mulch and wood chips to hold onto moisture and nutrients in our dry summers.   

Even still, not all the plants survive.  We keep planting densely, using chicken wire and Plantskydd to deter the deer, and repeating planting as we assess what's surviving. 
It makes us grateful for the established trees that are there, and appreciate the truth in the saying, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now."

This year we were helped by a hard working, hilarious crew! Most of the volunteers also play basketball together at school.  They joked and laughed together while they worked.  I loved the “blackberry brigade” they figured out!  Clearly they are used to working as a team. 
We focused on removing invasives from the area adjacent to the "salamander meadow", since there were nesting songbirds in the area adjacent to the gravel path.
Volunteers hauled out four bags of English Ivy and a huge pile of Himalayan blackberry.
​Best of all we heard a woodpecker and lots of song sparrows, and saw the red backed salamanders that are so unique to that little wetland.   

Over Spring Break we worked hard to cut back Himalayan blackberry along the streamside and and dig out the tenacious knuckles left behind.  While a small excavator can be helpful with this work, we used loppers and shovels so as not to disturb the native thimbleberry plants interspersed with the Himalayan blackberry.  There is also a lovely carpet of native trailing blackberry in this area that we tried to gently move aside during this work.  A huge thanks to NALT volunteers who helped with this physically demanding task.  Also, Bruce dug Daphne while the kids bagged ivy.

In November 2022 we planted over 250 plants from Streamside Native Plants over several days with the help of over 20 volunteers recruited through NALT, as well as a group of students from Ecole Hammond Bay.  In February 2023 a small group got the last few plants in the ground!

• Douglas Fir
• Grand Fir
• Big Leaf Maple
• Black Hawthorn
• Western Yew
• Red Osier Dogwood
• Salmonberry
• Oregon Grape
• Sword Fern
• Stink Currant
• Red Elderberry

This work was funded by a grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and is carried out in partnership with the City of Nanaimo Partners in Parks, professional biologists, and the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

First, our thanks to Milner Group for their donation of logs and stumps, to the Snuneymuxw First Nation and City of Nanaimo for help developing and carrying out this project, and to the Pacific Salmon Foundation for their support.

The pamphlet below was developed to inform neighbors and other interested community members of the work plan.

This was our first "big" project, requiring temporary diversion of the creek to install two large woody debris structures.  Previously, boulders were hand placed and brush bundles were installed along the bank to prevent erosion.  These were mostly washed out during extreme rainfall events.
For this project, volunteers filled sandbags and helped set up coffer dams to temporarily exclude fish access to the creek. 
Biologists carried out electro-fishing to move any fish in the work area to a safe location (none were found at this site). 
Two pumps were set up to remove water and make sure water with stirred up sediment didn't re-enter the creek. 
A small excavator installed logs and stumps in the banks of the creek.  These are just touching the surface of the water now (at very low flow) so that as the water rises the space under the large woody debris will be protected from the scouring effect of high flows, and offer sanctuary to fish.
Large boulders were added to the streambed to force the water to meander downstream, creating smaller pools that slow flow and improve habitat.

Logs and stumps installed at the Morningside CWMN location, to create a pool and prevent bank erosion during high flows.

Huge stump and boulders installed between the Morningside CWMN location and the culvert under Morningside drive.

After a 2 year hiatus due to Covid restrictions, we again organized a work party in the park adjacent to École Hammond Bay.  This event started in 2017 and makes a tremendous positive impact on the biodiversity and ecological integrity of the park.  It gives graduating elementary school students an opportunity to give back to an area they enjoyed playing and learning in.

On June 21, 2022 a hard working group of grade 7 students and their families removed invasive plants in Morningside Park.  This year we were also joined by the school principal and other community volunteers.  We reflected on our commitment to understanding how human activities have impacted the stream ecosystem in the same way that settler activities have impacted indigenous communities.  Spending time tending and appreciating this place is an act of reconciliation as much as environmental healing.

We targeted blackberry bushes that are crowding out native plants in the riparian area, and Bur chervil that's growing along the gravel path to the tennis courts.  We also continue to carefully pull ivy and bag it for safe disposal.  We watch the maples grow taller and provide shade for native plants like Salal, Orgeon grape and ferns.  We continue to reflect on how we can educate the children who enjoy this space about how to prevent erosion, and avoid disturbing the animals that live in and around the creek.