Friends of Shelly Creek Park Versus the Archangel

Written on 24 June 2022.

A  green invader is threatening the ecology of Shelly Creek Park!

Lamium, also called Yellow Archangel, is taking over a large section of ground in the park and swallowing up Douglas Fir seedlings planted last year by City of Parksville employees, as well as Large-leaf Maple seedlings. Lamium is a common plant used in planters and flower beds and has been introduced by residents dumping garden waste in the park.

 Lamium Infestation in Shelly Creek Park                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Lamium is an invasive species found in shaded to partially shaded habitat including wooded areas. It can easily out compete natural ground covers. If it were to make it to where Shelly Creek flows through the park, it could out-compete the natural riparian vegetation needed for streambank stability and shade for the resident Cutthroat Trout. 

MVIHES volunteer and Arrowsmith Naturalist, Sue Wilson, lives beside the park and contacted Warren Payne, City Parks Supervisor, about the Lamium during the City of Parksville Open House down at the Community Beach. Warren already had the Lamium on his radar and was consulting with the Coastal Invasive Species Committee (Coastal ISC) to have it erradicated. If enough volunteers could be rounded up for pulling the Lamium, the use of an herbicide could be avoided. Sue succeeded in rounding up over 20 nearby residents and formed the Friends of Shelly Creek Park for a Lamium-pulling party. Fortunately, Lamium is easy to pull out and large open areas can be covered in cardboard to kill it and prevent it from spreading. The right-hand photo shows Sue breaking down donated cardboard boxes for covering some of the Lamium. She also baked dozens of delicious cookies for the volunteers. What an awesome lady!

Between June 20 and 23rd, a total of 26 volunteers from Friends of Shelly Creek Park, Arrowsmith Naturalists, and MVIHES were led by Heidi Grant (Project Director) and Taylor Koel (Summer Environmental Technician) of Coastal ISC in removing approximately 90 bags of Lamium and laying down cardboard, for a total of 104 hours of volunteer labour. The first 60 bags were taken to the Waste Transfer station in a U-Haul rented by Heidi and Taylor, and the rest were taken by car. 

                                                                                                                                Taylor Koel (left), Heidi Grant (right) 

The photos below show some volunteers in action. On the left is Helen Davidson of Arrowsmith Naturalists who's probably thinking "This ain't no Field of Dreams". In the middle is strata member Diana Matsuda, and to the right is MVIHES volunteer Austin Peterson.

Here is one of many Douglas Fir seedlings that were buried by the Lamium. Poor little tyke. You can see how a natural wooded area like Shelly Creek Park could be degraded by a carpet of Lamium.

                                                      And now for some dramatic Before and After shots. 

Yes, the cardboard is unsighty but it's a great reminder of why we shouldn't dump our garden waste into natural areas. Also, when removing invasive species, either from your yard or a natural area, they must be placed in garbage bags and taken to the landfill section of the Waste Transfer Station where they will be buried deep so they can't return. Never compost or include invasive species in garden waste (unless you are using a composting service where vegetation is heated to temperatures that kill seeds and rhizomes, eg. Community Composting).

Many thanks to Sue Wilson, Warren Payne, Heidi and Taylor, and all the volunteers that came out to fight the Archangel. Work continues in the park to remove more of this invader. If you would like to help, you can send an email to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hangin' With the Salmon Fry in the Estuary

Written on 07 June 2022.

One fine day in May, MVIHES volunteer James Craig went snorkelling in the Englishman River Estuary to check up on the salmon fry.  He took some amazing photos of Chinook, Coho, and a few Chum Salmon fry hanging out in a variety of hoods (MVIHES slang for aquatic neighbourhoods). Some of his observations are below.

The left-hand photo shows Coho fry taking cover amongst rock and boulders, also called riprap.  The fry will remain in the river/estuary system for a year before migrating out to the ocean. 

The above photos show eight Chinook fry lurking beneath an old tree that washed up into the estuary. Englishman River Chinook fry only hang around for about 90 days so will probably head out to the ocean by the end of June.

Some of you may remember that in 2017, Nature Trust of BC removed a dyke that impeded the natural tidal flows in the western section of the estuary.  Restoration work included placing large woody debris (LWD) in the form of trees and logs in the foot print of the removed dyke. One such piece of LWD is in the above left-hand photo which was harbouring Chinook fry, as seen in the above right-hand photo.

Nature Trust also enhanced a channel in the estuary that branches off from the Englishman River to the west. James observed more than 500 Coho fry in this channel where deciduous forest lined the bank. Salmon fry were scarce where the channel became shallow and veered into open mudflats. 

 A marauding gang of Coho, Chinook, and Chum fry was observed taking cover below an undercut of the river bank. Such a popular spot!

But the most popular hood of all was a section overhung by Pacific Crab Apple trees (above left-hand photo) that were providing shade, and probably some tasty insects as they fell off the leaves, to at least 785 Coho, Chinook, and Chum fry. The above right-hand photo shows them enjoying the privacy offered by sea-lettuce and other aquatic plants. James has been checking up on the fry in the estuary since 2017 and has found the section under the crab apple trees harbours the highest densities of salmon fry. An important observation that demonstrates the importance of maintaining trees along shorelines, and aquatic vegetation in near-shore environments. 

Many thanks to James for sharing his photos and observations. We can't wait to see what he gets up to next.