Warden’s Report Ecological Reserve #76 Fraser River – September 30, 2024

ER #76 Fraser River – September 30, 2024
Report by Bev and Bill Ramey

Sunshine with clouds developing in afternoon, calm, 13 to 16 o C
Walking distance about 10 km, but most was back and forth traverses across the
silt and sand covered exposed accreted areas as well as bushwhacking circular
loops through the woods, so distance was not linear. We did not reach either the
upriver tip, nor the downriver tip of the islands. The GPS showed our moving time was about three hours, while our ‘resting’ time was close to six hours (‘resting’ time was spent examining and photographing plants).

Water level at Mission gauge: 1 m to 0.5 m (Fraser is tidal at Mission)
Water level at Hope gauge: 4.4 m

Participants: Frank Lomer (plant expert), wardens Bill & Bev Ramey
Given the 126 new plant species identified two weeks earlier on September 15 by
Frank Lomer, it was timely to make another trip to treed areas of the islands, with the intent to confirm the trees and shrubs on the existing plant list and add morenew species.
We arrived at the parking lot at 9 am, loaded gear and paddled to the islands,
arriving on islands by 9:45 am. After examining some liverworts and mosses of
interest near where we landed our kayaks, we crossed the gravel bars southwards towards the lower islands, examining a few more plants along the way.
As the Fraser River water level had risen since our trip two weeks ago (water level was now about a half metre higher at the gauge at Hope), we had to wade a slow flowing water channel to reach the downriver islands. The channel water level was thigh-high, but the temperature of the river water was fairly warm. On the main lower island, we began with a short route into its forest to check on a visible conifer tree, which took some time as this involved cutting through the shoreline growth of Himalayan Blackberry. We next followed the old swale that runs adjacent to the former eagle nest in the large cottonwood trees. Some Himalayan Blackberry plants were growing along this route, but it was still walkable. Invasive Reed Canary Grass was growing throughout the length of this old swale and under the large willow trees at its far end. There was no Himalayan Blackberry encroaching there which raised the question, does the invasive Reed Canary Grass outcompete the Himalayan Blackberry? Or perhaps the elevation of the swale was still too low to encourage growth of Himalayan Blackberry? Frank explored portions of the mature large cottonwood forest where he found a few areas which were mostly free of Himalayan Blackberry.
We all checked out the area within this maturing cottonwood forest, where several conifer species are growing, with heights from five to twenty metres tall (Douglas fir, Hemlock and Western Redcedar). As well as confirming species on the old plant list, Frank identified some new herbaceous and shrub species. He commented on the difference in seed dispersal in this location, compared with the gravel bars where the plants had mostly grown from seeds that had floated downriver or blown in with winds. In contrast, under the maturing cottonwoods and conifers, most of the new herbaceous and shrub species have grown from berry seeds, likely carried here by birds, which had eaten the berries elsewhere, then flown to this area and perched in trees, leaving ‘seed-rich’ feces.
One species, the large shrub European Spindle (Euonymus europaeus) was growing in abundance with many specimens spread over a wide area under the cottonwoods and conifers. Some of these shrubs were close to four metres tall and several were bearing fruit. Given their abundance, Frank suggests that this plant should be added to the BC Flora list, noting of course that it is ‘Exotic’.
Next we walked across the central cross channel to the southern upper island and made our way through bushes to its circular pool and then on to the area with conifers amongst the large cottonwoods. We found the invasive English holly here, as well as English ivy, but not the spruce tree (Picea sitchensis) listed on the existing plant list. Following that exploration, it was time again to wade back across the downriver interior channel. Dusk was nearing, so we looked for plants on the accreting shoreline on route back to our kayaks. We departed the islands at 6:45 pm and left the parking lot by 7:30 pm. An additional 50 new plant species for this ER#76 were identified by Frank, bringing the total of new plant species identified during both our September trips to 176 new species, as well as the 28 new species identified during our April trip. Several of these species are ‘Exotics’ and a few of these ‘Exotics’ are considered ‘Invasives’.
We did not observe any dead small fish along the shorelines, which we were looking for, given the reported fish kill of juvenile salmon in Hope Slough on September 23. Frank subsequently made two more trips to the islands on October 7 and 8, identifying an additional 26 species. Plant Species, revised list now titled November 2024 This revised list now includes the 230 new species identified by Frank Lomer, plus species already on the plant list that have been confirmed during 2024 visits. This updated plant list includes a short list at the end of species previously reported, but not yet confirmed. The number of new species identified by Frank Lomer are: 28 new species on April 22 field trip, 126 on Sept 15 field trip, 50 on Sept 30 field trip, and 26 new species on Oct 7 and 8 field trips. This plant list will be posted on Friends of Ecological Reserves website, together with trip reports. Over a hundred photos of plants have been uploaded onto iNaturalist from the September field trips, showing 38 species of plants. See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=132525&user_id=bevramey

Mammals
Tracks observed:
Deer
Beaver (especially active on the upriver southern island with tracks heading fromthe trees/shrubs to the central deep pools of the flowing inner channel)
Coyote
Amphibians
1 Pacific Tree Frog (aka Pacific Chorus Frog)
Insects
Several species of Grasshoppers including Migratory Grasshopper (Melanoplus
sanguinipes) and Pallid-winged Grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis)
Dragonflies, including White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum) and
Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum)
Fish
No pink spawning salmon this year as 2024 is an even-numbered year
In the several land-locked pools, fewer small fish species were seen than two weeks
earlier, possibly due to predation by Great Blue Heron
Birds
Birds have been entered on eBird at hotspot:
https://ebird.org/canada/hotspot/L844938
Cackling Goose 300 (there were 180 seen in one flock in morning and late in
day 300 in three flocks flying near to each other; the 180 in the morning might
have been part of the 300, so only counted as 300)
Western Grebe 1 diving, fishing in northern channel, successfully
Common Merganser 20 loafing on a beached log near dusk
Glaucous-winged Gull 27 flying overhead westwards in a very scattered flock
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1 soaring over west island
Bald Eagle 2 soaring over old nest area
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Belted Kingfisher 1 (same location as where seen two weeks ago, perched above
the inner flowing channel)
Common Raven 2
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Pacific Wren 1
American Robin 4
American Goldfinch 2
Song Sparrow 2
Spotted Towhee 1

Maturing Cottonwood forest with branches of Western Hemlock on left

Mature Willow forest (Salix lasiandra) with invasive Reed Canary Grass understory, and question – is that grass keeping away the invasive Himalayan Blackberry?

Colonizing plants on accreting inner swale, mosses, horsetail, grasses and willows

Treed maturing forest in background, with herbaceous plants colonizing thickly in front; foreground shows lower elevation sands, with few colonizing plants