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

Monitoring vegetation structure
• Take the following measures to ensure that vegetation does not damage the dyke: measure
current vegetation height; monitor vegetation species and height every three years; and top or
remove any plants growing, or likely to grow, higher than existing trees.
Management Unit 8: Deciduous Woodlot.
1.0 Existing Conditions
Management Unit 8 (Drawing 5) is a deciduous forest that reflects the poor drainage and sandy
nature of the soil. The primary tree species are cottonwood, birch, alder, and willow (Salix spp.)
(Figure 21). The understorey canopy species of small trees and shrubs include black hawthorne, and
blackberry. The ground layer consists of dense common horsetail more than one metre high, tansy,
and fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) (Figure 22).
Non treed peripheral areas are also included in this Management Unit. These areas are in different
stages of vegetative succession, reflecting both the time since the last deposition of dredge spoil and
soil moisture.
Northwest of the trees the following habitat complexes occur, often with indistinct boundaries
(Drawing 5):
• scouring rush (Equisetum hyemale), tansy, horsetail, and other forbs, and grasses;
• shrub (black hawthorne)/broom/blackberry/grass (Figure 23);
• areas of predominantly blackberry (“A” in Drawing 5), or of blackberry/broom/shrub (“B”
in Drawing 5) (Figure 24);
• meadow-like area dominated with grasses into which blackberry and shrubs are
encroaching (Figure 25);
• moist area in which a stand of cattail (Typha latifolia) occurs, surrounded by reed
canarygrass (Figure 25); and
• residential lawns and clearings encroaching into the park.
Southeast of the treed area a forb/grass/blackberry border occurs between the trees and the multi use
trail. The vegetation of the southeast is largely common horsetail, tansy, and grasses with
encroaching blackberry along the edge of the woodlot (Figure 26).
South of the woodlot is a triangular area bordered on the west by a subdivision, the east by the
multipurpose trail, the south by the access trail from Dunsmuir Road, and the north side by the
woodlot. Four vegetation types occur (Drawing 5) (Figure 27):
• at the south end, just north of the access trail from Dunsmuir Road, the vegetation is grasses and
forbs, including reed canarygrass, tansy, horsetail, and morning glory (Figure 27 foreground).
• on the north side of the above area small trees predominate, particularly black hawthorne, with
some knotweed on the subdivision side (Figure 28).
• trail-side vegetation is largely grasses and tansy (Figure 27, background along left side of trail),
and
• an area of blackberry occurs between the shrub area and the woodlot to the north, (Drawing 5).
Soils throughout the site consist of more than a metre of sand. The “wetland” area also consisted of
damp sand more than a metre deep, with no standing water.
Blackie Spit Park: Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Plan – Management Unit 8 45