Comox Valley Naturalists Society

Background:
The Courtenay Lagoon Park is a key part of the Courtenay Riverway Plan. It was built as compensation for the lost habitat due to the expansion of the Comox Marina in the early 1990’s. The Comox Valley Naturalists have had input in its construction and design since its inception. The park is about 6 hectares located at the estuary of the Courtenay River. Much of it was a sewage lagoon that was cleaned out. An upland section was constructed with imported fill.

In many ways the park has been a huge success as witnessed by the amount of users both human and avian. Because much of the park was composed of fill, it started off with very little vegetation. In the years since its construction there has been various planting efforts as well as natural ingress of native species. Recently the Comox Valley Naturalists as well as the Urban Wild Project have done some of the plantings. Club members have been maintaining these plantings as well as identifying plants that natural succession has brought to the site.

Vision:
The Park offers valuable habitat potential for many species of birds and vegetation. Its original design concentrated on intertidal marine habitat. There is space on the upland portion to recreate some of Vancouver Island's most threatened ecosystem, the Garry Oak Meadow. This can be done while recognizing the high use by humans and the Park’s location next to the air strip. The Garry Oak is suitable for this dry, hot site. A Garry Oak meadow would preserve the open nature of the Park and its views, while providing biological structure for native flora and fauna. It could also be used to increase the habitat of locally rare plants such as the Deltoid Balsamroot.

Goals:
Working with the Parks department of the City of Courtenay, the Naturalists Society is continuing to plant vegetation which typifies the Garry Oak meadow. At the same time we are working to limit the spread of competing invasive species on the site. The Comox Valley Naturalists have made a long-term commitment to be stewards of the Park. This requires volunteer work for broom bashing, planting and watering shrubs and trees.

Recent Work:
In late May, 2006  we were able to plant an additional 660 native plants of 33 different species mainly in the Courtenay Airpark and a few in the estuary thanks to the generosity of the Shell Environmental Fund which provided money for the purchase of plants and compost and to the City of Courtenay who provided funds for labour and rental of an excavator.  The work was undertaken by Sellentin's Habitat Restoration & Invasive Species Consulting Ltd. who have a contract to continue to remove non-native invasive plant species from the Courtenay River estuary and adjacent areas throughout the summer.

Future work:
We expect that work will be ongoing for many years as natural succession proceeds upon the site. We will be enhancing a natural process to attain a specific end: a Garry Oak Meadow.