Study Area and Cause of Degradation

Approximately one-third of a  9 acre private property located in British Columbia’s Southern Gulf Islands consists of  degraded Garry Oak Meadow Ecosystems (GOME). The degradation was caused, in part, by logging of  mature Douglas Firs in and around the GOME, which took place in the 1980s. Considerable debris from subsequent tree harvesting/logging  was also deposited.

The GOME are dispersed throughout the private property and each pocket demonstrates different levels of degradation. For example, while all areas have suffered from deer browsing, some pockets manage to support reasonably healthy populations of native meadow plants. Others have lost all native species and are dominated by exotic plants, some of which are invasive.

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