Students from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) are working on The Nature Trust’s McGillivray Slough property which is part of the Bert Brink Wildlife Management Area in Chilliwack.
Jillian Wheatley, Mae Whyte, and Lauryn Williams are creating a comprehensive restoration plan as part of the requirements for the BSc Ecological Restoration program at BCIT.
Since May 2018, the group has been collecting baseline data to inform restoration recommendations. They are currently writing a detailed restoration plan that aims to control invasive Reed Canary Grass and restore the site into a mature Cottonwood floodplain forest.
The students conducted bird surveys, analyzed soil, tested water quality, created vegetation plots, and completed fish and amphibian sampling. Collecting scientific data is important information that The Nature Trust uses to make decisions on how to best manage our conservation properties. This particular property needs a lot of restoration work as it is filled with Canary Grass, Blackberries and several other invasive species.
The Nature Trust’s Lower Mainland Conservation Youth Crew will be tackling restoration projects at McGillivray Slough this summer.