A Hawthorny Subject: Bringing light to the invasive species issues on Salt Spring Island

Tony working on Hawthorn removal from Xwaaqw’um in March 2024

It is encouraging to see the level of public interest in our work at Xwaaqw’um. Visitors will see a great deal of invasive English Hawthorn and Scotch broom piled up in the fields closest to the barns. We encourage and invite education, dialogue and reciprocity in our work at the BC Park.

Stqeeye’ is committed to removing the invasive species from the park. We are working in partnership with BC Parks and Cowichan Tribes on a five-year restoration project that will see 20 new hectares of wetlands added back to the agricultural fields. Along the edges of all these fields are ditches full of mature English hawthorn, and invasive species that was planted by settler farmers to act as a living fence. This plant, along with Scotch Broom, Canada Thistle, English Holly, English Ivy, Bamboo, Himalayan Blackberry, Common Tansy, Reed Canary Grass and Foxglove are commonly seen in the park.

Following the 2015 Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park Management Plan, Stqeeye’ is continuing to enact the invasive species removal portion of that plan this spring. Removing invasive species mechanically is preferred in most cases to chemical controls such as pesticides. Removing the invasives species by hand also allows for employment of 6 Indigenous Youth on Salt Spring Island, an important part of Stqeeye’s mission statement. “One of the greatest threats to biological diversity in BC’s protected areas is the introduction of invasive species. The anthropogenic sites in Burgoyne Bay Park all contain invasive species, including a variety of non-native grasses introduced by agriculture, Scotch broom, thistle species, Himalayan blackberry and many other non-native herbaceous and shrub species. Disturbed sites, including roads and trails, also act as vectors for dispersal of invasive species.” Page 24 - https://nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/kuwyyf/burgoyne_bay_pk_mp_20150324_f2068f527d.pdf

As invasive plants are removed, Indigenous Elder and Native Plant expert Ken Elliot has taught us that for every invasive that is removed, four native plants must be planted in it’s place. As many people can see, there are many, many hawthorn plants at Xwaaqw’um! So we have our work cut out for us growing and replanting the many ditches and fields that have become overgrown with hawthorn seedlings.

Invasive species have dominated the agricultural fields at Xwaaqw’um for a long time. It will take time for replanted native species to take over again, but Stqeeye’ is committed to 1000 years of management of this important Indigenous food security project across the whole 564 hectare park.

Species that will be used for replanting include established cuttings from our Native Plant Nursery that has sent 6500 native plants to Salt Spring Island for use in restoration planting this year. These include Black hawthorn, Red-osier dogwood, Pacific Willow, Red Alder, Nootka Rose, Hardhack, Snowberry, Elderberry and Pacific Ninebark. Stqeeye’ staff have collected seeds from Common Rush, Small-flowered bulrush, Yellow Rattle, Idaho Blue-eyed grass, Tule, Blue Wild Rye, California Oatgrass, Bolander’s rush, Dagger leaf rush, Long-bract rush and Woolly Sunflower to plant in disturbed areas. These native species add biodiversity, native pollinator food and traditional medicines back into the degraded landscape in the fields at Xwaaqw’um. In the future fenced wetland restoration areas, Stqeeye’ will be planting many food plant species again, including Salmonberry, Thimble berry, Osoberry, Common Silverweed, Wapato, Camas and Blackcap raspberry. Native plants provide high quality food for native species.

We are grateful for the supportive articles and visitors who have posted and visited us in the park this week. Please come out and support us at next week’s Invasive Species work party day on Wednesday March 27th from 9am-4pm below the barns. Included in this will be a free BioChar Burning demonstration by the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust using the hawthorn branches. Bring a bucket if you want to take some biochar home!

 Resources for Further Reading:

https://fviss.ca/invasive-plant/english-hawthorn

https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/english-hawthorn

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/80441

https://solvepestproblems.oregonstate.edu/weeds/common-hawthorn