Echo Ecological Enterprises
Echo Ecological
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Services
  • Projects
  • Volunteer
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Services
  • Projects
  • Volunteer
  • Blog
  • Contact

blog

Community Maintenance Events

5/28/2015

Comments

 
For many of our current projects, Echo Ecological relies strongly on members of the community to help us with our restoration activities. We partner with several different community groups throughout the Lower Mainland, and work together to restore health to our creeks.  As the old saying goes, 'many hands make light work' and this is definitely true when it comes to removing invasive species! A considerable amount of work is required to restore the health of a creek in an urban community. This is why we are very grateful to all of our many partners who help us to continue with the important work we do. 
Picture

One of the the groups that has been supporting us since the very beginning is Bodwell High School. They are a private co-educational boarding school located on Harbourside Drive in North Vancouver. As their school boarders MacKay Creek, they have been very interested and excited about the work we have been doing there. Their environmental club has always been more than happy to come out and lend a hand on the Creek! 

Picture
Picture

Picture

At the beginning of May we worked with the 31st Burnaby Girl Guides to remove scotch broom from MacKay Creek. These girls were AWESOME at finding the baby brooms and digging them out. They were on a mission trying to eradicate as many as possible. When the event was over, many girls were BEGGING to come back and help again! Now that's what we want to hear from our future generations! 

Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture

Most recently, we hosted an event that had many different members of the community coming out to help. With so many adults working hard to battle the invasives at the creek, we had quite the pile to show off at the end of the event!

Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture

We are very grateful that we have so many great people that are interested in improving the health of our local creeks! Hopefully we will see you all back again in the future!  

Comments

MacKay Creek Maintenance event 

5/20/2015

Comments

 
Picture
Comments

Seymour Planting

4/30/2015

Comments

 
Picture
This past March, Echo Ecological has continued with the restoration efforts on Seymour Creek Estuary. After the installation of large woody debris, we moved on to planting the riparian area along the spit of land that stretches out into the mouth of Seymour Creek. As the ground was very compacted and not ideal for planting, several large truck-loads of soil were brought in to supplement our planting efforts. The soil was divided between the three islands that make up the site and along the edges of the trail. The soil was spread out to create a nice layer for all of our baby native plants. Spreading soil is very laborious work, but luckily the fruits of our efforts were well worth it in the end! 
Picture
Picture

At low tide, the large log structures are easy to see. When the tide rises, the farther portions of land become completely submerged, separating the islands from each other and allowing for fish passage. The tides played a very large role in this project as we needed to align our work hours with the lowest water levels. It would have been immensely difficult to haul soil and plants to the farther islands if they were entirely separated by water!  

Picture

After carefully spreading out the soil in preparation for planting, we were then able to position the plants. When they were all nicely situated with adequate spacing, our crew began putting them in the ground. Thank goodness we got some beautiful weather, as it made for a very enjoyable experience! 

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Once all the plants were in the ground, work began on the fencing. Beavers are common in the area, so we didn't want to give them the opportunity to munch on our babies before they had a chance to mature!

Picture
Picture

Once the riparian area was planted and fenced we set to work planting grasses into the intertidal zone. They look so lovely growing between all of the large woody debris we installed!

Picture


Picture
Picture
We got so carried away with planting that we didn't realize how close the tide had gotten. At one point we were really working against the clock to try and plant all of our grass plugs before we were totally submerged in the water. Never a dull moment! 
Picture

In order to reduce predation on our grasses (Geese LOVE to eat these tasty plants!), we constructed improvised exclosures with caution tape and rope. We also made use of the installed pieces of large wood. Future testing will be done in order to determine how effective these methods are in increasing plant survival.

Picture

The completed project looks quite aesthetically pleasing compared to how barren the site was prior to restoration. Hopefully the surrounding community and all of the local dog walkers that frequent this site will appreciate all our hard work. 
Comments

Seymour  Estuary  Restoration

3/17/2015

Comments

 
Picture
For the past few weeks we have been working with BCIT and the River's Institute installing large woody debris in the Seymour River Estuary. We are only able to work during the hours surrounding the lowest tides of the day, so there has been much work effort during the night. It is challenging to work in the estuary in the dark, but it has definitely been an rewarding experience. 
Picture
The work we are doing is of paramount importance for the continued health of the estuary, as it adds complexity to the stream channel, which provides habitat for salmonid species. The main body of this work includes securing logs to large boulders placed in the stream. The logs are held in place by metal cable that is glued with epoxy into deep holes which we have drilled into the  boulders. 
Picture
Each hole that is drilled into the boulders must be cleaned thoroughly. This ensures that the epoxy fuses to the inside of the rock instead of any dust or grit that may have accumulated inside the drill hole.  This is the most important step of our work, as it is imperative to have a firm epoxy connection to ensure the log's stability (We wouldn't want to have any errant logs drifting off downstream!).
Picture
After the rock holes are cleaned, we are able to run cable through wood holes which were initially drilled in the logs and into the boulders. 
Picture
Once the cable is in place, we must then epoxy the cable-ends into the boulder to complete the final step of the process. The epoxy takes about an hour to harden, so we have to make sure this step is completed well before the tide begins to submerge the logs again. 
Picture
The cabling is fairly unobtrusive, so it blends in well to the natural habitat. You can barely notice we were here at all.
Picture
Hopefully the salmon will appreciate all of our hard work!! 
Comments
Forward>>

    Author

    Tara Matthews

    Archives

    June 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    June 2020
    November 2019
    August 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All

We are passionate about Wetland Restoration!

 "Wetlands are often referred to as nature's kidneys because of the vital role they play in filtering pollutants and chemicals out of our water bodies. This an important ecosystem service that is freely provided by the natural world. It is our job as stewards of this planet to ensure these crucial resources are retained for future generations."  

Tara Matthews, CEO/Co-Founder - Echo Ecological Enterprises

Contact Us