The area I have chosen to complete my research is Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area in Kamloops, BC. Although I work in Fisheries, I am interested in vegetation and I thought this research assignment would be a good opportunity to expand on this interest. The Protected Area (PA) is large, almost 16K hectares in size. The specific area I am interested in is one of the many small offshoot park roads (Pruden Pass Road) approximately 6km into the park from the Batchelor Hills area. As activities that are generally not considered allowable in parks are legal in PAs (pipelines, off-roading, etc.), I am interested in how these activities affect the native vegetation.
Here is an excerpt from my field journal:
“June 28, 2023
Time: 18:30
Temp: 31 C
Weather: Sun & cloud, no wind
Initial observations: native vegetation seems to be dominated by sagebrush, rabbitbrush, arrow-leaved balsamroot, and various grasses. Roadside vegetation includes many non-native and invasive species including rush skeletonweed, mullein, and diffuse knapweed.
Landscape: rolling hills, mid-grassland area, location just above an old cattle holding area.
Vegetation condition: Although the veg is in somewhat poor condition as the area is drying out, most/all plants are identifiable.”
After returning from my initial visit, I searched up the BEC zone which turned out to be BGxw1. This was interesting because a few species I had found did not match up with the 04 site series that it belongs to. For example, I found some rabbitbrush and arrow-leaved balsamroot that is usually not found with big sagebrush.
These are my initial questions:
- Are the dominant plant species native or non-native immediately beside, 10, and 20 meters perpendicular to the road?
- Do the plant species match with the BGxw1 04 site series as they should?
- How does the plant species richness of this particular grassland compare to other grasslands (i.e. is it healthy – if this can be a measure of health)?
I think I will be going with option #1. Wish me luck on my study design and veg surveys!
