Project Watershed, through the Estuary Working Group, has embarked on an initiative to protect and restore the Courtenay River Estuary and restoration of eelgrass meadows, because of their importance to estuarine functioning, is a component of that initiative.
To initiate restoration and assessment Project Watershed coordinated an eelgrass pilot project. The project focused on a small area of the estuary and attempted to engage and train volunteers in eelgrass mapping and restoration. The project also produced a map of the Estuary highlighting potential eelgrass locations which was created through 2007 air photo interpretation.
The pilot project was held on March 12th and 13th, 2011 with eelgrass specialist Cyntia Durance and the Sechange Dive Team. Day One consisted of a lecture about eelgrass ecology and an explanation of how to map and monitor eelgrass beds followed by a field segment to practice the mapping and monitoring methods with GPS units. The field segment was held in the area of the Royston Wrecks. On Day Two volunteers helped complete an eelgrass transplant on the inside of the Royston Wrecks.
The Royston Wreck area was chosen for transplanting as log booms used to be located on the inside of the Wrecks. Due to the dropping of bark and the limited amount of light filtering through the booms the eelgrass meadow immediately beneath disappeared. Anecdotal information from snorkelers suggested that there was eelgrass close to that area and our potential eelgrass map concurred.
Twenty volunteers, including four divers, attended Day One of the event and showed much interest in the project. Unfortunately the tides were not low enough for the group to practice mapping eelgrass beds with GPS, instead the group mapped residual ponds using similar methodology. General locations for donor stock and transplanting were identified. The weather was extremely poor for Day Two making transplanting a long and arduous task, however about 15 volunteers participated in the transplant. Most of the volunteers prepared the eelgrass on shore with Cynthia while the others accompanied by the Seachange Divers help to gather and then plant the eelgrass. In total the group transplanted approximately 350 shoots in a 10 meter by 3 meter strip between the last two pilings on the oceanside of the Wrecks.
If you are interested in helping to monitor this area or help in future eelgrass projects contact Project Watershed at (250) 703-2871 or email estuary.projectwatershed@gmail.com. Project Watershed could use snorkelers and divers for monitoring and planting and people on shore to GPS beds and prepare eelgrass for transplanting.
