Keifer Ecological Services

• Kinbasket Reservoir Revegetation Program
• Arrow Lakes Reservoir Revegetation Program
• Silviculture, Wildfire and Forest Stand Effects on Huckleberries
• Spalding’s Campion Inventory and Habitat Assessment
• MOE Elder Creek Prescribed Burn
• Spatial and Quality Attributes of Culturally Important Plants
• Rare Plant Propagation and Restoration, Waneta Expansion Project
• Whitebark and Limber Pine Restoration in BC
• Impact of Accelerated Timber Harvesting on NTFPs
• Aberfeldie Channel and Revegetation Program
• Effects of Mountain Pine Beetle on NTFRs
• Revegetation of Disturbed Wetlands in Westpath Expansion Area
• Managing Saskatoon and other Traditionally Important Plants
• Invasive Plant Inventories at Provincial Parks
• Profile of NTFRs in the Cascade Forest District
• Invasive Species Mitigation Practices after Forest Management Activities
• Ethnobotanical Inventory, Invermere
• Reconnaissance Level Wetland Testing on TaTa/Skookumchuck Range
• Revegetation Monitoring - Kootenay 230 kV System Transmission Line
• Cultural Plants of the Creston Wetlands
• Morels in the East Kootenay, BC

Rare Plant Propagation and Restoration, Waneta Expansion Project

KES was engaged by Columbia Power Corporation with the goal of translocating rare plants that would be impacted by the Waneta Expansion Project (WAX). The primary species of concern are porcupine grass (Hesperostipa spartea) and Spanish clover (Lotus unifoliolatus ssp. unifoliolatus) with common clarkia (Clarkia rhomboidea) as a third species of interest.

There is a lack of relevant literature on this subject, which reinforces the idea that translocation works for this project must be done with rigorous science, be well documented and set up for publication in a scientific journal to assist others doing similar work.

Porcupine grass is a long lived perennial species that may be lifted and its tillers divided then planted as nursery plugs, it may also be propagated by seed.  Spanish clover is likely a seed banking species meaning that its seeds may survive in the ground for a number of years.  Being in the legume family Spanish clover is also very likely associated with rhyzobacteria, commensal bacteria that affix themselves to root nodules and fix nitrogen. This information suggests that the correct strategy for this species includes the moving of soils and when sowing the seeds to include some salvaged soil with the goal of inoculating the seed.

The census of the porcupine grass in areas expected to be impacted by the project is 621 individuals. The estimate of Spanish clover is 274 and likely is a significant underestimation of the population as not all sites were visited and these plants were partly decomposed, as it is an annual species.  These estimates do not include plants that were out of the project footprint.

Soil sampling found that most of the rare plant sites have been disturbed and that they typically have little to no organic soil development.  All soils hand textured as loamy sands. Typically most sites had a non-existent to thin (< 1 mm) cryptogrammic crust over sand. Three samples were tested for metals and nutrients and two for available nutrients analysis. The result for lead was 53, 137 and 284 ug/g. The threshold for lead in agricultural soils in BC is 500 ug/g, meaning that these three sites have concentrations well below the regulated levels. All soils tested were deficient in nitrogen, had sufficient phosphorus and deficient to marginal potassium.

Concerning the soils, it is of great value to save them, however, soils in areas infested with spotted knapweed (Centauria biebersteinii) and Dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica) should be considered for burial as their seeds are long lived in the soil. The soil testing found that the soils are not likely significantly different from natural sand deposits, this suggests that if post-project soil shortfalls occur that sands could be used. 

These works took the project to the point that the lifting of porcupine grass plants and soils with Spanish clover seeds/rhyzobacteria was about to occur. If major earth works are to occur in 2010 it is key that the Spanish clover sites soils are rescued prior to the onset of the growing season. If earth moving does not occur until later in the year a 2010 seed collection is recommended for both species of concern. Moving annual plants in the growing season is a risky proposition and will likely result in death.  The porcupine grass may be expected to transplant well, even in the growing season.