One of four short videos made for the City of Toronto, Fleming College and the Royal Ontario Museum
The sky was dark with clouds, the threat of rain teetered with every passing moment. An eastward wind pulls the waves to crash against the sand as grasses dance. A lonely gull flies overhead, as only he is strong enough to fight off the harsh conditions of nature. The land is void of people, until specialists from afar, arrive at the dunes to restore this delicate world.
These are the third year Ecosystem Management students from Fleming College. Leading them are instructors Barb Elliot and Mike Fraser. The project first started in 2008 when one of Elliot's former students, Janette Harvey, who now works as a Natural Environment Specialist with the City of Toronto, reached out about the potential for an annual field trip where students help with restoration work on the Toronto Islands. Since then, every year a bus full of Ecosystem Management students arrive at Hanlan's Point on Ward's Island to repair the important dune habitat.
As students arrive, they are brought to the dunes and shown the plants that call this land home, the most prominent of which is marram grass (Ammophila breviligulata), an ordinary looking grass but an integral one for dune habitats. This grass has a long root system that holds the sand in place, protecting it from wind and waves. As wind carves trenches through the sand, the areas with marram grass remain, creating mounds and ultimately dunes, reservoirs for when the beaches become eroded. Other plants that call the dunes home are cup plant (Siliphium perfoliatum), black-eyed Susan (Rudbecki hirta) and red oiser dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), a species much like marram grass in its ability to hold sand but by far easier to transplant.
Ecosystem Management Student, Sean Avey, Planting Red Oiser Dogwood
After the tour, everyone headed back to unload gear, during which a small Dekay's brown snake (Storeria dekayi) was discovered by students. People took turns holding the small serpent, admiring it before it was moved off the path and out of harms way. Snakes are some of the many animals that call the dunes home. Others include toads, shorebirds, migrating songbirds, many overwintering ducks and red foxes who prowl the dunes in search of prey.
Once the gear was unloaded, students were split into two groups, one group to plant red oiser dogwood while the other were relocating marram grass that was growing onto the foot path. A pile of potted dogwood was brought to the dunes, broken up and each plant was placed a considerable distance from one another, where they would be planted. Using shovels, students dug roughly six inches into the ground, concealing the roots so that they had looked as though they had been there in perpetuity. Very quickly, a small forest had sprouted due to the student's hard work. In time these dogwoods will help keep the sand from eroding from the wind, preserving the dunes.
Barb Elliot Removing Invasive European Reed
After lunch, the team geared up in chest waders and large hooks called "fangs" which were donated to the program. They begin their walk to a small pond in the dunes, a pond that had been there some time and is home to frogs, fish and a variety of invertebrates. The pond however, is also filled with invasive European reed (Phragmites australis). European reed was introduced to North America from Eurasia as an ornamental plant but has since spread, taking over wetlands all over southern Ontario. Here it released toxins from its roots that kill off native plant species, allowing them to grow in thick monocultures. These plants have also been known to dry up wetlands, replace important plant communities and cause many animals, including Species at Risk to become stuck and die.
Once the students get there, they start by cutting off the "heads" of the reeds, like some primordial hydra, to stop the seeds from spreading. As they go into the water, they begin physically removing the reeds, using the fangs to pull out the roots and shoving the stalks into bags to be destroyed later. Working fast, the students and instructors cut off all the seed bearing heads and removed the vast majority of European reed from the wetland, helping stop the pond from drying up which would eradicate a great diversity of life from the ecosystem.
After a long day of field work, students and instructors alike were tired but happy with all they had accomplished, especially Barb Elliot as this would be her last trip to Hanlan's Point before she retires.
Ecosystem Management Student Removing Invasive European Reed
Special Thanks to: Janette Harvey, Barb Elliot, Mike Fraser, Vincent Luk, The 21/22 Ecosystem Management Students and the other 21/22 Environmental Visual Communication Students