Concerning the letter, “Invasives overrun Mt. Douglas summit,” in the Nov 8 Saanich News. The letter writer said, “The summit of big Mt. Doug has become severely infested with broom. What is probably the most superb view in Saanich is impacted by the unsightly presence of the broom. The localized Garry oak groves are under threat from broom growing inside their boundaries. It would be difficult for our band of volunteers to attack this area. I broached the issue of having the Parks Department accept responsibility for clearing this site. The words I heard chilled me to the bone: ‘No removal without replacement.’”
The last four words sound like the response to a proposal that volunteers remove something.
The view from the top of big Mt. Doug is not obscured by shrubs. In springtime birds nest under plants on the rocky outcrops of the park. Until this summer, there was broom on little Mt. Doug. Sure it is not a native plant, but it did not impede the view, and it stabilized the soil. It’s a legume, with lots of nitrogen fixing bacteria close to its roots.
Waist-high vegetation used to keep people on the trail. In the last several months someone uprooted all the broom on little Mt. Doug. People walk on the grass and moss, and rain is washing the earth away. The hilltop looks like a moonscape. Come summer, the Garry oaks on the lower part of the hill won’t have the water stored in spongy soil held together by roots uphill, and they will suffer from drought.
If you will pardon the pun, there are good grounds for the Saanich Parks Department policy of “no removal without replacement.”
Robert Shepherd
Saanich