Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society provides grassroots leadership and an inclusive process, with a voice for all community members, to ensure that our community grows and develops in a way that incorporates an environmental ethic, offers a range of housing and transportation choices, encourages a vibrant and cultural life and supports sustainable, meaningful employment and business opportunities.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Cranbrook Creek Restoration and Flood Preparedness

                       Stewart Wilson

Back in the fall of 2007 the Columbia Mountain Institute http://www.cmiae.org  as well as the BC Society for Ecolological Restoration(chapter.ser.org/britishcolumbia/) held a joint conference in Cranbrook. 

Their purpose is to improve ecological management by increasing and sharing knowledge about the ecosystems of the Columbia Mountains and nearby regions.

One of their demonstration projects involved replanting the vegetation on a piece of ground left bare after a new storm drain outlet had been installed in Kinsmen Park by Joseph Creek.

They used live stakes consisting of cottonwood and native willow under the direction of Michael Keefer, and Dave Polster, both restoration ecologists and board members of SERBC.

 As the pictures show, the results have been spectacular in re-introducing native plants, as well as stabilizing the bank along this particular stretch of the creek, which is often subjected to a sudden rise in water levels due to extreme weather events especially during the spring and summer. 

 Native plants are ideally suited for the restoration of degraded environments.

 More information on techniques may be found on the
web, including keefereco.com, tipimountain.com and
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2 comments:

  1. Rotary Way WalkerJuly 14, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    Wow! I need to walk with my eyes open and take note of the changes taking place. When did all this happen?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stewart WilsonJuly 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM

    Live stakes were planted in October 2007 shown in the first picture. The second picture shows the same site a year later. The third picture was taken last week.

    ReplyDelete

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