British western region ( columbia )
volume 28, number 4, 2007
Summer crews at work throughout the province
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When the sun gets higher and the days get longer, DUC’s biologists and field teams prepare their annual summer “to do” list. With perfect conditions, the summer is the ideal time to get seasonal work completed. But the list is long, and the B.C. team would never be able to finish it without the assistance of the summer work crews. Each summer, a student crew is assembled to work in each of the priority areas: the Fraser River Delta, east coast of Vancouver Island, Cariboo-Chilcotin, Peace River and Okanagan. On the coast, Dan Straker joined the DUC team. Partnering with three other students under contract with the Nature Trust of British Columbia, the summer crew worked on a number of extremely important projects including: • GPS mapping and removal of Spartina anglica (an aggressive invasive species that is found throughout Boundary Bay and Roberts Bank) • Project maintenance (beaver debris removal, brush-cutting, and purple loosestrife removal) • Biodiversity inspections of existing projects • GPS sketch maps of existing projects • Wood duck box inventory and nest success surveys at Polder Ridge and Pitt Marsh
In the Intermountain, Lacey Loewen returned for her second summer of employment with DUC, this year gaining valuable experience as the crew leader. Loewen’s duties included supervising three other students and ensuring the crew’s tasks were carried out on time and safely. This crew also partnered with the Nature Trust of British Columbia as well as the B.C. Ministry of Environment, Parks Branch, to maintain conservation areas managed by all three agencies. Projects completed included: • A trial of waterfowl nest searching techniques • Inventory of blue-listed Great Basin spadefoot toads and other wildlife species • A Greenwing activity day for children in Williams Lake • GPS mapping of weed infestations, trails and fencelines • Fencing projects including fence tear-down and repair • Project maintenance tasks such as weed control and beaver debris removal Up in the Peace River Region, the summer DUC crew included Katie Third, Alston Bonamis and Jenna Tabata. They too worked on a number of projects which were completed before the arrival of the first frost of the fall. Their work included: • Project Webfoot events at Dawson Creek and Fort St. John • Interpretive sign installation at Charlie Lake • Vegetation seeding and tree planting at newly constructed projects • Fence repair on management projects • Weed control on the Nature Trust of B.C. and DUC projects • Nest box maintenance • Waterfowl banding Without our summer crew, many of the important projects would not have been completed. However, with a competitive job market and increasing demands for summer students, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find such talented and committed crews as DUC had this summer. Katie Third, Alston Bonamis and Jenna Tabata of the DUC Peace River summer crew build a critter dipping platform at Watson Slough in preparation for Fort St. John Webfoot events.
Value of biological diversity on agricultural land
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DUC is conducting a series of workshops and demonstration days this summer and fall with agricultural producers across the province. As part of our involvement in the Environmental Farm Plan program, DUC, in co-operation with the B.C. Agriculture Council, has been working on providing written material on the value biological diversity provides to landowners and society in general. The idea is that education and information coupled with demonstration and incentives will result in landowners being better land stewards and maintaining more habitat.
A more diverse ecosystem is a more stable and sustainable system. Maintaining biological diversity on agricultural land can have direct benefits to the producer. Shoreline stability, preventing wind erosion, preventing feedlot run-off into watercourses, water purification, additional forage, and pest control are some of the benefits that can result from a diversity of vegetation cover. King Campbell, DUC’s head of agriculture programs for B.C., is working with a number of producer groups on Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan, Cariboo/ Chilcotin and Peace River to co-ordinate the delivery of the workshops.
Somenos Marsh critical Vancouver Island habitat
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East Vancouver Island, part of the Pacific flyway, is an important habitat area for migrating waterfowl. Just outside Duncan sits Somenos Lake and surrounding habitats of marshes, agricultural fields, forests, woodlands and riparian areas, all of which form a wetland complex of exceptional value to waterfowl, wildlife and fish. The area is part of an international network of coastal habitats that play a primary role in the successful recruitment of young birds. The habitat provides food and shelter for waterfowl during critical migrating and winter staging. However, because of the lake’s proximity to the community it continues to be under increasing pressure from development. As early as the 1970s government, industry and conservation agencies began working together to assemble conservation areas around Somenos Lake to ensure its protection for fish and wildlife. Over 20 years ago, Ducks Unlimited Canada signed a conservation agreement with the B.C. Forest Discovery Centre, one of the landowners. DUC installed a couple of water control structures to better manage the wetland habitat for waterfowl. Today the resulting wetland and upland habitat is 34 hectares large and is part of the B.C. Forest Discovery Centre and DUC conservation area. Following the success of these collaborative conservation efforts, use and demand by both people and waterfowl continues to grow. Ducks Unlimited Canada has become a member of the Somenos Marsh Steering Committee along with fellow members: The Nature Trust of British Columbia, Ministry of Environment, B.C. Forest Museum, The District of North Cowichan, B.C. Parks, Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society, and Cowichan Tribes. The committee’s goal is to protect the ecological values of the marsh while still allowing human use and enjoyment.
Waterfowl such as mallard, American wigeon, wood duck, lesser scaup, bufflehead and green-winged teal use Somenos Marsh. The marsh is part of a habitat system that is critical to wintering and staging waterfowl in the region. Somenos Lake was designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) due in part to the presence of an estimated 5 per cent of the global population of trumpeter swans that winter there. Because of its significance for migratory birds and other wildlife, Ducks Unlimited Canada will re-sign a 30-year Conservation Agreement with the B.C. Forest Museum allowing the ongoing enhancement and maintenance of Somenos Marsh. DUC will replace two water control structures and remove invasive willow to improve the overall integrity of the marsh. In addition, DUC will evaluate various techniques to control willow as part of its science program. This information will direct future resources to manage willow on the property and on adjacent properties where willow continues to encroach wetland and agricultural habitat, reducing the value to wintering and migrating waterfowl. As well, the bed of Somenos Lake is owned by TimberWest Forest Corp. DUC has had a long-term relationship with the forestry company and is presently working with it either to have the lake bed donated to DUC or to sign a 30-year Conservation Agreement to protect the lake for fish and wildlife habitat. Ducks Unlimited Canada will receive some funding from Shape Properties Corp. (an adjacent landowner) as well as partnership funding from the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund that will assist with future maintenance of the marsh.
western region (british columbia)
Mapping the agricultural fields of the Fraser River Delta
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Well, they weren’t thinking they were going to be colouring maps when they came to work for DUC. It started several years ago as part of DUC’s research in the Fraser River Delta, where the goal was to better understand how wintering waterfowl use the Fraser River Delta. As part of the project, field staff would map the locations of the agricultural crops in the municipalities of Delta and Richmond to calculate how much food energy was available for waterfowl and determine how waterfowl select food resources. While the field work of the research was completed in 2005-06, the agricultural field mapping continued to monitor the change over time. “By measuring the changes over the landscape we can better plan our future program, respond to land use changes and improve the effectiveness of our conservation program,” says Dan Buffett, DUC Surrey’s Research and Planning biologist. Land use changes in the Fraser River Delta continue to shift from crops that waterfowl use such as vegetables, grains and grasses to crops or cropping methods not compatible with water use such as berries, nurseries and greenhouses. The project has also improved partnerships with other agencies and the ability to share information. The project builds on a base map built by Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service several years ago. With some refinements to the information, the information was revised so that other agencies such as the Canadian
Wildlife Service and Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust can better share data such as the field boundaries and annual crop information. In addition, the mapping has laid the foundation to pilot a trial in measuring crop change using satellite information over the next few years. “With the field work and remote sensing, we’ll be able to realistically map agricultural fields such as the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, without having to have staff map fields by the ground,” says Buffett. This summer, however, DUC’s field staff are mapping the agricultural fields by the ground method, observing and manually recording what they see. Jeanine Bond and Barry Alleyne, both biologists with the Surrey office, are taking maps and their Crayolas into the field in the name of science. “It’s quite amazing to see the diversity of crops on the ground and great to get an up-close look at agricultural practices in the area,” says Bond, who just started with DUC in July and recently received her master’s degree from SFU in 2007 on harlequin ducks. Her partner in mapping, Alleyne, remarks, “It’s incredible to have such a rich and fertile agricultural area near a big city, while most people never know it (farmland) exists.” Alleyne has been working with GIS for the past year, but is getting an opportunity to put his biology background to use this year on this and other projects as part of his responsibilities. In the end, it’s just another project where DUC’s conservation program has a solid science core to lead the company forward into the future.
Barry Alleyne (l) and Jeanine Bond (r) map one of the agricultural fields in Delta as part of DUC's ongoing research in the Fraser River Delta.
Blackie lives the good life at B.C. Golf Course
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A great view of the evening sunset, morning breakfast on a dew-soaked lawn, a swim before noon and a daily hug. These are the pleasures of Blackie’s daily life. And yes, Blackie is a duck. Five years ago, Blackie, a black Muscovy duck, along with two other domestic ducks named Claudette and Heidi, moved to the Surrey Golf Club. Today, only Blackie remains. And, he is not moving. Perched on the clubhouse roof at night, he waits for his friend Linda Degenstein to arrive each day. With the sound of her car entering the grounds, Blackie swoops down and accompanies her on the morning routine. A favourite among all the golfers, he has become the club’s celebrity host, greeting all on the first hole as they tee off for the day. Although he is not a wild duck, it is only fitting that the golf course has such a great icon for its guests. The Surrey Golf Club is one of the Lower Mainland’s newest Silent Bid Auction locations. Golf course manager Brian Young hopes the print auction will raise a lot of money for Ducks Unlimited Canada. With an ambassador like Blackie, how can it not? SBAs in B.C. The Surrey Golf Club is one of over 600 Ducks Unlimited Canada Silent Bid Auction locations in British Columbia. Since its inception 6 years ago, over $5 million has been raised for habitat conservation and education programs across Canada.
British western region ( columbia )
The Flyway newsletter is published by Ducks Unlimited Canada Oak Hammock Marsh Conservation Centre P.O. Box 1160, Stonewall, Manitoba R0C 2Z0 tel (204)467-3000 fax (204)467-9028 toll-free 1(800)665-DUCK Please direct your inquiries to the following: Eastern Region Atlantic: Kelly MacDonald Quebec: Bernard Filion Ontario: Lynette Mader Marci Dube Western Region
Flyway production staff Director of Communications and Marketing: Madeleine Arbez Editor: Duncan Morrison Assistant: June Finnson Art Director: Tye Gregg Graphic Designers: Lindsay Pikta-Marie, Aquila Samson, Jeope Wolfe © Ducks Unlimited Canada, 2007 Printed in Canada on 100% recycled paper including 100% post-consumer fibres
Area Contacts Director of Regional Operations Ian Barnett, Edmonton (780) 602-3221 Manager of Provincial Operations Les Bogdan, Surrey (604) 592-5000 Manager of Conservation Programs Brad Arner, Kamloops (250) 374-8307 Fundraising Rory Brown, Victoria
(250) 652-5090
Major Gifts and Feather Society Gordon Stewart, Surrey (604) 592-5008
Blackie says good morning to Linda Degenstein. publication agreement #40064849