Choose and define the GOME restoration area:

The restoration focus for this project is a pocket of an approximate 3500 sq ft area, covered with a dense forest of six ft tall Scotch Broom. An approximately 3000 sq ft rectangular area is flat. The remaining area presents as a narrow rectangle slopes downward at an angle of approximately 15 to 20 degrees. Figure 2 indicates the approximate boundaries of the restoration area.

Figure 2: A 2017 satellite image of the restoration area. The transparent RED AREA is the restoration area. The BLUE AREAS locate the piles of logging debris within, and just out of, the restoration area.  Note that NORTH is in the direction of the upper right hand corner of the photograph. The two BLUE ARROWS indicate the locations from which the photographs in Figures 4 and 5 were taken (see Year Two progress).

The restoration area is bounded by a mature Garry Oak tree located at the upper right hand corner of the red area in Figure 2 – i.e. just on the right hand side of the upper blue arrow. A second mature Garry Oak tree stands just outside the red area in the upper right side of the red area. Also, a stand of Douglas Fir (presumably with trees of roughly uniform age around 40 years, dating from about 1980, i.e. when logging of the area took place) is located on the left hand side and upper left hand corner of the red area, and another stand of similarly aged Douglas Fir is located just outside of the the right hand and lower right hand corner of the read area.

Clear the land of old logging debris:

In addition to the Broom forest, large piles of Douglas Fir logging debris (i.e. branches, bark, discarded logs, etc.) were also present within the chosen area.

• • • The debris was removed and chipped.
    • The chips were stored for later use (see below).

Removing invasive species from the restoration area:

The primary invasive species is Scotch Broom. There seems to be two different approaches to removing Broom:

1. 1. First, remove each Broom plant from the area by pulling out or digging up the roots. Second, each year, pull the seedlings that will invariably appear. Keep removing seedlings and, eventually, the Broom will not be able to re-establish itself.
   2. First, during blooming season (i.e. May and June), cut each blooming bush to its stem.  Thereafter, cut the Broom in bloom and, eventually, the Broom will not survive.

In each case, it is important to create sufficient shade in the GOME as soon as possible, so as to stop Broom seeds from germinating.

With the idea of expediting the meadow restoration, option 1 above was followed.

• • • The Broom forest was removed in Jan – June 2022. This involved:
    • cutting each bush so that only a 3 ft stalk remained.
    • using a pick axe and an “extractigator” to dig out or pull the stalks so as to remove the roots.
    • smaller broom plants were pulled by hand.
    • Once the broom was removed (see Figure 3), the broom debris was chipped and the chips were distributed in a shaded depression in nearby Douglas Fir stand (shade from the Douglas Fir stand prevents Broom seeds from germinating).

Figure 3. A photograph of approximately 50% of the broom plants removed from the restoration area.