For The Townsman
Students in Leigh Cormier’s Outdoor Education and Geography class at Mt. Baker Secondary School recently worked with members of Mainstreams Environmental Society in clearing weeds from around native plants in the riparian area beside Joseph Creek in Spooner Park.
Several years ago volunteers with Mainstreams planted a number of perma-guilds, which are a small group of plants which help to support one other in the hope of re-establishing a natural riparian area along this stretch of Joseph Creek in an urban setting. Since then, most of the plants have done well as perma-guilds were protected by wire cages from browsing ungulates like deer. However, plants have had to compete this year with weeds like burdock and grasses which have thrived after a wet spring and early summer.
Students in the Outdoor Education and Geography class worked in groups, one group removing the protective wire cages around the perma-guilds; a second group clearing grasses and weeds; and a third group filling wheelbarrows with mulch, transporting, and then spreading mulch around the plants once they had been cleared of weeds. Mainstreams looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with this group of students.
For more information about Mainstreams, check out: https://www.mainstreams.ca