Comox Valley Nature

Saturday. June 10 Lower Morrison Creek- Puntledge River

Steph Nathan will lead you on a walk through  the lower reaches of Morrison Creek today. No car- pooling is required as you can park on Lake Trail Road, near the Lake Trail School’s ball field. You will visit the Roy Stewart Morrison Nature Park, then cross over to continue Malcolm Morrison/First Street Park. After a short walk along quiet residential streets, you will enter Ruth Masters Greenway, and follow the Puntledge River downstream to Bear James Park.  We will have a few cars are parked on Robert Lang Drive to take the drivers back to their cars on Lake Trail Road. Those who wish to, can continue down Robert Lang Drive to Puntledge Park for pickup at the main entrance to Puntledge Park, near the  restrooms on 1^st Street.  .

Saturday June 3^rd; Cumberland Woods

Loys will lead a walk into the Cumberland Forest around Coal Creek Historic Park. This is the site of two of the Dunsmuir Coal Mines. It is an easy walk, with wide trails passing wetlands and remains of the old mine workings. Meet at Harmston Rd to car pool, or at Jumbo’s cabin on Comox Lake Road (watch for the large interpretative sign on the left.

A brochure is here: https://cumberland.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CoalCreek.Park_.Layout.-FINAL.pdf

A brief history of the area is here:  https://cumberland.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Chinatown.Layout.FINAL_.pdf

Today’s walk explores the south side of the Puntledge river downstream for about 2 km. This side of the river is much less visited then the north side, which BC Hydro has developed for hikers, bikers and picnic users. The walk is an easy downhill stroll on the way out following the turns in the river on well-maintained paths and trails.

A wide range of birds visit the forest, and many shade loving plants line the trails.

http://comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/nature-viewing-guide/6-comox-lakepuntledge-river-area/upper-puntledge-river/

Hollyhock Flats is as close to natural as you are likely to find in the K’omoks estuary. Known as Kus Kus Sum by the K’omoks First Nation, this area is south-east of the Field sawmill site, and south of Comox Road, between the sawmill site and the Rotary viewing platform. This site has been of interest to conservationists since the 1970, and CVNS has been involved in invasive removal since the mid-1990s. The tidal channels and wetlands  are home to a wide range of salt tolerant plants, including large Sitka spruces, Lyngby’s sedge, and its namesake marsh hollyhock (Sidalcea hendersonii), and hosts many different species of birds and wildlife. It is also susceptible to Purple loosestrife invasion.

This rarely visited site is seen by hundreds of motorists daily, yet is one of the least explored areas around the bay. Project Watershed has an ambitious long term plan to restore the Field site to a more natural setting. A video vision of their plans are here;

https://youtu.be/gvyfPiMpXjc

There is little on the web about the area, but one resource is listed here. You may need to use the “Find on this page” app to search for Hollyhock flats.

http://www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/cremp/Vol3/vol3_e.pdf

This easy walk starts at the Union Bay Boat ramp and explores the remains of Dunsmuir’s Coal terminal, located on both sides of Hart (Washer) Creek. In 1887 Robert Dunsmuir had a deep water coal terminal 600 feet long built to load wind and steam freighters which carried the high quality coal from Cumberland around the world. Little of the infrastructure, which included coke ovens, a coal washer, and workers barracks remain. What does remain are mounds of low quality coal and coal dust, removed before shipping to ensure that only the best coal went aboard. Coal dust is explosive and water from Hart Creek was used to remove much of it here.  Use of the site only stopped in 1960, and various uses of the area have been suggested over the years since then. This site is a fascinating, if toxic site, and a reminder of how poorly we treated the environment not that long ago.  More information is available at these three web sites:

http://comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/nature-viewing-guide/8-baynes-sound-area/union-bay/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bay,_British_Columbia

http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/news/union-bay-coal-hills-on-priority-contaminated-site-list-in-b-c/