Our staff and volunteers have been busy at St. John Point over the fall and early spring, creating habitat for native species to thrive. If you frequent the park you may have noticed two fenced areas were created in recent months, one down slope from the parking lot around a small wetland, and the second nearer the beach access at Kadonaga Bay. The fences will keep the deer from eating the young trees and shrubs we’ve planted. In the coming months and years, keep an eye out for the following species that have been planted there: red alder, Douglas fir, western red cedar, Pacific crab apple, Pacific willow, June plum, red-osier dogwood, black hawthorn, salmon berry, snowberry, and sword fern. Other than the red alder, all the plants were grown right here on Mayne Island in our native plant nursery. Many of the red-osier dogwood and Pacific willow were started by a process called live staking. Check out a video of the stakes being installed here. You may also notice some logs and branches have been laid on the ground throughout the site. These pieces of woody debris will provide home for insects, and as they decompose they’ll hold moisture and build soils.
Further towards Kadonaga Bay you will find a second fenced site that only a short time ago was a large patch of Scotch broom. Recently it has been planted with a mix of native species including red alder, Douglas fir, Western red cedar, orange honeysuckle, oceanspray, Saskatoon berry, snowberry, salal, and sword fern. A special thanks to the family cohort that helped plant 70 red alders at that site on March 18th!
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