Steep slope stabilizing, 3

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!