How has the hot summer affected Uplands Park?

by Anonymous

How has Uplands Park handled climate change? If current conditions continue, how will the local ecosystems be affected in the long term?

An Introduction to Uplands Park

By Anonymous

Uplands Park is a Garry Oak Meadow located in Oak Bay, B.C. The 76-acre park is located along the ocean next to Cattle Point. This ecosystem shows what some areas of Greater Victoria were like before development.

Native Species in Uplands Park

By Anonymous

Garry Oak
Hard Hack
Black Hawthorn
Pacific Willow
Trembling Aspen
Bearded Owl-clover
Bigleaf Lupine
Carolina Meadow Foxtail
Arbutus
Grande Fir

Invasive Species in Uplands Park

By Anonymous

Daphne
English Ivy
Holly
Himalayan Blackberry
Woodland Hawthorne
Norway Maple
Scotch Broom
Gorse

How are Garry Oak Meadows getting destroyed?

By Anonymous

These meadows are disappearing due to more development which means more tree destruction and fragmentation of these habitats. Another reason is that due to climate change, there are more extreme weather conditions (like droughts). Although Garry Oaks are drought-tolerant, other native species in these meadows rely on a consistent water supply.

Why are Garry Oak Meadows Important?

By Anonymous

Garry Oak Meadows are home to many of Canada's most endangered flower species as well as the Garry Oaks. Not only do Garry Oak Meadows provide a home to plants, they also provide a great home for insects, birds and mammals. Uplands Park has a long trail system that the community uses for recreation and education. There are also archaeological sites with significance to the Indigenous Coast Salish peoples.

The vernal pool at risk in Uplands Park

By Anonymous

What is a Vernal Pool? A vernal pool is a rare habitat found in Uplands Park where it is very dry in the summer and very wet in the winter. The vernal pool is home to many endangered annual flower species. These flower species have a unique reproductive cycle that can even be affected by minor droughts in late Spring. These annuals require a small window of wet weather at the end of Spring, without this, they can not reproduce and other species will take over this unique habitat.

If climate change continues, then what will 2050 look like?

By Anonymous

By 2050, precipitation will increase by 5%, but it will be distributed heavily in the winter and there will be less in the summer. There will also be more extreme weather events, like droughts and wind storms. Droughts will affect the trees with shallow roots because they won’t be able to get the deep groundwater that the trees with big roots can. As mentioned, native annual flowering species will also be negatively affected by these changes.

Winners and losers in 2050

By Anonymous

Potential winners in 2050

Garry Oak - Native Species
Trembling Aspen - Native Species
English Ivy - Invasive Species
Scotch Broom - Invasive Species
Norway Maple - Invasive Species
Holly - Invasive Species

Potential losers in 2050

Pacific Willow - Native Species
Carolina Meadow Foxtail - Native Species
Bearded Owl-clover - Native Species
Grande Fir - Native Species
Cascara - Native Species

How Can We Help

By Anonymous

Native species in Uplands Park will be most negatively affected by climates by 2050. We can help by doing our part to slow down climate change. Find ways to use fewer fossil fuels and reduce your ecological footprint. Locally, you can help by learning about native species and removing invasive ones by volunteering with certified restoration groups, like Friends of Uplands Park: https://friendsofuplandspark.org/ Special thanks to Wylie Thomas (Friends of Uplands Park) for sharing his knowledge and time with me on this project.