Observation by Tom Okey
Following a workshop on invasive Spartina spp. at the K;omoks First Nation boardroom, the whole team from the workshop proceeded to Goose Spit Regional Park to remove Spartina sp. from the intertidal zone of the inside of the spit. It took 10 people about 1 hour to remove a ~20 square meter patch of Spartina sp. A considerable amount of sediment had to be removed as well to try to make sure that the roots had been removed. However it is unlikely that we removed all the roots, and so the Spartina could sprout from these remaining roots. The substrate was sand mixed with pebbles and cobbles, and the roots reached down through the cobbles making them difficult to eliminate even with 10 people with shovels. This spit and adjacent beach alone may contain ~4,000 square meters of Spartina spp.
I contacted Professor Caterina Valeo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, to discuss the feasibility of a student project to build a Spartina eradication machine for large-scale habitat restoration on beaches. I can imagine a machine that would be able to remove patches of Spartina an their roots to some specified depth in such sand/pebble/cobble substrate. Such as machine could also separate the sediment from this invasive organic macrophyte material. It would be similar to a tiller, but one that harvests and removes (keeps) the organic material and leaves most of the sediment. I can imagine this in sandy habitats, such as in the Goose Spit example here, but it might not work in muddy habitats. Tilling has been used for Spartina eradication in Willapa Bay, Washington (Patten and O'Casey 2007), and other places, but these authors suggested that tilling of Spartina meadows is cost-prohibitive.
Comment by Professor Caterina Valeo:
"...yes, I would think this would be possible - specifically by a fourth year student project or design project. Let me run it by some of my colleagues in charge of design and robotics."
Comment by Hilary Blackman:
I just wanted to say thank you for everyone for making it out to Comox on Tuesday. It was a fun day and a great chance to meet some like-minded people who care about the environment. I look forward to seeing how the LEO network comes together. I wanted to let you guys know that we ended up removing 5300 kg of Spartina and Spartina-infested sediment!
Team participants for this removal event are listed here alphabetically:
- Aisha Balint
- Colin Robinson
- Cory Frank
- Hilary Blackman
- Kaylyn Kwasnecha
- Laura Loucks
- Mark Maftei
- Shawn Lukas
- Thomas Reid
- Tom Okey
References:
Patten, K. and O'Casey, C., 2007. Use of Willapa Bay, Washington, by shorebirds and waterfowl after Spartina control efforts. Journal of Field Ornithology, 78(4), pp.395-400.
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