Students from West Vancouver’s Mulgrave School spent the week of May 15-19 in the Comox Valley working on restoration projects with Project Watershed.
Armed with new shovels, rakes, hoes, gloves and other implements, 14 students (age 14-17), three teachers and their field trip leader Lee Hardy spent four days working on shoreline restoration in the K’omoks Estuary.
In Royston, they helped landscape the upper salt marsh area and planted this area with dune grass and other saltmarsh plants, to create habitat for juvenile salmon and other marine creatures.
“The kids really worked hard on restoration activities,” said Jean Swain, Project Watershed volunteer.
On May 16, the Mulgrave students worked with 52 local students from Robb Road School at the Courtenay Airpark. The day was led by Project Watershed directors Bill Heidrick and Dan Bowen as well as staff Caila Holbrook and Amy Firth. The students were involved with water quality monitoring, playing a salmon game, garbage pick-up, observing a saltwater wedge demonstration and planting saltmarsh.
They completed their week by working with Frank Hovenden, Comox Valley Nature, and planting additional saltmarsh plants and 15 shoreline trees in Royston.
Musgrove School donated all of the new implements to Project Watershed to be used in future restorations.