Blackie Spit Park: Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Plan - City of Surrey

3.3 Initial Enhancement Costs
Cutting (brushing) blackberry
$1,200. for 2 days (8 hr x $75/hr)
Mowing 2x annually
$1,200. @ $300 each for 4, half-day events
Tilling field
$1,200. @ $600 each for 2, 1-day events
Planting and cutting fall rye
$600. @ $300 for each of 2 half-day events
Planting pasture, including labour & seed cost $500.
Total $4,700
3.4 Monitoring Schedule
Ensure that hedgerow is maintained within its pre described boundaries.
Management Unit 6: Dyke and Ditches
1.0 Existing Conditions
Management Unit 6 consists of the dyke on the north side of the subdivision drainage ditch, and the
ditches on each side of it (Drawing 4). The upper dyke sides are mowed annually. The vegetation
is largely grasses, but several other species also occur.
On the south side of the dyke, Arctic lupin (Lubinus arcticus), tansy, morning glory, thistles, and a
variety of planted wildflowers occur. Patches of blackberry grow, and the occasional shrub or small
tree occurs (broom, black hawthorne) (Figure 17). The vegetation at the east end of the dyke is
predominantly woody, including species such as elderberry, blackberry (2 species), oak (1), birch,
broom, a native cherry (Prunus sp.) (1), and, at the very east end of the ditch, a patch of salmonberry.
The vegetation of the north side of the dyke is quite different from the south. The dominant species
of grasses are reed canarygrass and some pasture species such as ryegrass (Lolium sp.). Some
creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and areas of saltgrass occur at lower elevations that flood
during the wet season (Figure 18). Other common species occurring on the north side include tansy,
lupin, stinging nettle, common horsetail (Equisitum arvense), thistles, silverweed, and rush.
The north ditch is shallow and apparently salty and is separated from the estuary by an old, narrow,
shrub covered dyke (MU 7). The lower summer water level exposed the muddy bottom on which
green algae grew. Elderberry, some hawthorne and a band of reed canarygrass that once grew in the
seasonally flooded edges of the ditch have died, possibly due to increased salinity or inundation
resulting from failure of the flap gate to shut, or to other adjustments to the water control structure
draining the ditch (Figure 18).
An algal bloom in the south ditch draining the subdivision was the only aquatic vegetation evident.
No other aquatic vegetation grew in the ditch or on its banks.
Blackie Spit Park: Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Plan – Management Unit 6 38