Management Plan

Uplands Park Invasive Species Removal

Work Plan 2006

Uplands Park is home to an impressive diversity of species at risk and is extremely valuable ecologically: there are 22 plant species at risk and 1 butterfly species at risk. Nine additional plant species at risk have been extirpated and no longer exist in the park. One of the most serious threats facing species at risk in Uplands Park comes from the invasion by exotic plants. Approximately 40% of the species in the park are not native, and some of these species pose serious threats to species at risk.

Ongoing volunteer efforts have removed invasive species from the park. However, the scale of the invasion is too great for volunteer efforts alone. In 2005, a crew hired by the Municipality of Oak Bay and assisted by municipal arborists and professional botanists spent a month removing invasive species. In September 2006, this work will continue to reduce threats to species at risk and to restore open meadow habitats in Uplands Park. Extreme care is being taken to minimize any potential impact to species at risk and all other native species. Once large open areas and sensitive areas with species at risk have been cleared of woody invasive species, it is hoped that volunteers and park staff can control ongoing recruitment of invasive species.

Prioritization of Locations for Invasive Species Control

Locations for invasive species were based on a priority list developed in the Management Plan for Invasive Plant Species in Uplands Park (Maslovat 2005).

The list was developed based on the following criteria:

Areas with species at risk, especially those with higher urgency ranking were given the highest priority.
Areas with species at risk most directly threatened by invasive species were given higher priority than species at risk that are indirectly threatened
Meadow habitats with high quality native species composition were given higher priority than wooded areas and degraded areas.
Invasive species were prioritized for removal based on level of impact, reproductive and competitive capability, ease of control through management, practicality of management techniques/ resource availability and urgency. Priority was given to invasive species in edge areas, low-density areas or new “satellites” where invasions are just beginning and can be more easily controlled.

The following table prioritizes locations for invasive species removal in 2006 and includes the species at risk and the invasive species present in each location.. Areas where work was completed in 2005 have been placed on a lower position on the list. Each location is mapped in Figure 1. The list of priority sites is a guideline only: it is not possible to strictly complete each site in order because of logistical considerations and the part time availability of the municipal arborists.

Table 1. Priority Locations for Removal of Invasive Species in Uplands Park

Map Number	General Area	Species at Risk	Dominant Invasive species[1]^{and [2]}	Person Responsible
1	Southeast of eastern meadow	Yellow montane violet, Foothill sedge	Giant hogweed	Application of herbicide by arborist to remove resprouting hogweed shoots.
6	Southwest section of the park	Tall woolly heads	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2), broom - at edges (2), crow garlic	Arborist to cut hawthorn and ash and use herbicide as necessary. Field crew to remove broom at edges.
3	Southwest corner of park (200m west of central meadow)	Water-plantain buttercup	English hawthorn (2), crow garlic (3)	Arborist to cut hawthorn and use herbicide as necessary.
5	South of central meadow	Foothill sedge, Elegant rein orchid, Tall woolly heads	Gorse (2), English hawthorn (1,2), crow garlic	Mature gorse removed in 2005. Treatment of gorse seedlings required.
13	Small meadow in southwest section of park	Heterocodon	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2, 4), broom (2), daphne (1), Pyrocanthus, crow garlic	Arborist to remove hawthorn and ash and use herbicides as necessary. Field crew to remove broom and daphne
8	Large rectangle of gorse already removed – some missed at edges	Elegant rein orchid	Gorse (1,2), crow garlic	Field crew to remove gorse plants missed in 2005. Treatment of gorse seedlings required.
9	North of East Point, Cattle point	Coastal silverpuffs, Purple sanicle, Bearded owl clover	Broom (1,2), English ivy (3), daphne (1)	Botanist to cut large broom next to species at risk in summer.
10	East point of Cattle point	Bearded owl-clover, Coastal silverpuffs, Poverty clover, Winged water star-wort	Broom (1), single plant of blackberry (2)	Botanist to cut large broom and remove blackberry in summer. Arborist to use herbicides as necessary.
15	South of central meadow, close to Beach Drive	None Restoration required	Gorse (2)	Treatment of gorse seedlings required.
16	South of Beach Drive, within Cattle Point loop	Elegant rein orchid	English holly “satellite”, broom (1), daphne (1,2), crow garlic	Arborist to cut holly and use herbicides as necessary. Field crew to remove older broom.
17	Northwestern corner of the park	None	Norway maple “satellites” (1)	Arborist to remove maple and use herbicides as necessary.
7	West side of large rock outcrop (west of central meadow)	Poverty clover, Yellow montane violet	Blackberry (2) removed to reroute trail, snowberry, broom (1, 2), Norway maple (2), crow garlic	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed. Resprouting snowberry and blackberry should be re-cut. Rerouting of trail should be evaluated.
2	Central meadow (southern section)	Water-plantain buttercup, Elegant rein orchid, Foothill sedge, Heterocodon, Mountain sneezeweed, Tall woolly heads	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2), broom (1, 2), blackberry –single plant (1), gorse – 2 plants (1), crow garlic (1)	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed.
4	Central meadow (northern section)	Chaffweed, Heterocodon, Kellogg’s rush, Mountain sneezeweed, Muhlenberg’s centaury, Spanish clover, Tall woolly heads, White-top aster Winged water star-wort	Broom, (1). Both English hawthorn (2) and daphne (1) are at the edge of meadow. Remove where they occur in the meadow.	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed.
11	Southeast of eastern meadow	Foothill sedge, Tall woolly heads, Winged water star-wort	Broom (1,2), blackberry (2), crow garlic	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed.
12	Eastern meadow	Spanish clover, Foothill sedge	Broom “satellites” (2,3), English hawthorn (1,2), English ivy (3), daphne (1), blackberry (2)	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed.
14	Eastern meadow close to North end of Cattle Point loop	Elegant rein orchid	English hawthorn (1), broom (1). English holly, daphne (2), blackberry (2) are at the edge of meadow. Remove where they occur in the meadow.	Monitor plants cut in 2005 for resprouting. Remove any invasive species that were missed.

[1] Invasive species in bold are targets for removal.

[2] Numbers correspond to Morbin and Jennings (2004) age class or density codes (listed below):

Broom: (1) Maintenance (less than 3 yrs old/ large broom removed), (2) moderate cover, (3) dense cover

English hawthorn: (1) Individual trees or shrubs, (2) thickets

Gorse: (1) colonizers, (2) dense patch

European ash: (1) seedling patches, (2) saplings, (3) mature saplings, (4) trees

Himalayan blackberry: (1) colonizers, (2) dense patch

Daphne: (1) individual shrubs/small patches, (2) shrub patches

English ivy: (1) colonizers, (2) moderate cover, (3) dense cover

Norway maple: (1) saplings or young trees, (2) mature trees