Restoration of Emergent Inter-Tidal Vegetation in Tod Creek Estuary

• Main Author: Tubman, Deborah
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Victoria 2007
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ecorestoration/article/view/20873

Tod Creek, Tod Inlet, and Tod Creek Estuary were adversely impacted by human activity in the twentieth century. First Nations and anecdotal history from the community as a whole confirm that historically the inlet and estuary supported rich and abundant biodiversity, including a wide variety of bird species, all four salmon species, and sufficient populations of bivalves, crustaceans, and intertidal plants to support harvesting. Plant harvesting in Tod Inlet included Typha Latifolia and possibly Scirpus acutus for fibre. Tod Inlet and the estuary no longer support this biodiversity and have a sterile appearance suggesting severe ecological impairment. These emergent plants are no longer present. To restore structure and function to the estuary Typha Latifolia and Scirpus acutus were reintroduced. Traditional Ecological Knowledge forms the basis for the restoration rationale and the project design was done in consultation with First Nations. A monitoring program was set up in the field using vegetation transects, vegetation plots, and photo-point monitoring. Monitoring will be conducted for three to five years to observe vegetation dynamics.