Skip King of Oliver (left) and Lia McKinnon of Penticton plant a sumac at the kiosk at Road 22. (Richard McGuire photo)
Volunteers have been busy planting native species at the information kiosk on Road 22 by the Osoyoos Oxbows.
Lia McKinnon of the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society said the last planting day of the season was Sunday. Volunteers planted native wood’s roses and cottonwood trees.
Sunday’s planting event followed an earlier planting day and two days of weeding of invasive species at the kiosk and in neighbouring Bobolink Meadows.
A team of volunteers worked in the rain on October 15 to plant native species and remove invasive plants.
That event was organized by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which owns Bobolink Meadows, a 58-acre property, about half of it wetlands, to the west of the oxbows off Road 22.
The small group also planted native bushes and trees, including cottonwoods, around an information kiosk that was renovated and upgraded in the spring.
Event organizer, Katy Fulton, said the aim of “Marsh Madness at Bobolink Meadows” was to educate volunteers about invasive plants and native plants growing in the area.
She hopes that volunteers can be involved in removing invasive plants in the future.
These, she said, include plants like thistles and purple loosestrife.
Volunteers planted cottonwoods, red osier dogwoods and a variety of shrubs including sumacs.
Bobolink Meadows currently has the only breeding population of bobolinks in B.C., Fulton said, adding that a bobolink is a small, colourful migratory bird.
The Osoyoos Oxbows is classed as an important bird area (IBA) and attracts many bird watchers.
Vegetation has always been very important to bird habitat.
Bobolink Meadows is also an important wetland habitat for a high concentration of species at risk including tiger salamanders and sandhill cranes.
There are several adjoining conservation properties including a large area protected by Ducks Unlimited Canada.
Among those participating in recent planting and weeding were Barb Pryce, Southern Interior program manager with the NCC, and Bryn White, program manager with the South Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Program (SOSCP), which co-ordinated the kiosk upgrade.
White said only a few plants were put in when the kiosk reopened in May because the hot dry summer was not suitable for starting new plants.
“We put a few dry plants in the front just to give it a little life and we did mulching and weeding,” she said.
Last week, however, about 50 new plants were planted.
“We had a terrible rainy day,” she said, adding that the small group got drenched in a downpour.
When the new kiosk was unveiled in May, it had a number of new information panels about the Osoyoos Oxbows and its birds and habitat.
White said a number of local and national organizations contributed funding.
The old kiosk was run down and attracted “unsavoury activity,” she said,
“We’ve noticed since spring and the facelift that there’s a lot less garbage, a lot less bottles and other things that get dumped there so that’s something nice to see,” she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Katy Fulton (left), Barb Pryce and Bryn White plant native shrubs at the Kiosk at Road 22. (Richard McGuire photo)
