Quick's Bottom / Viaduct Flats Wetlands…. HAGXI EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

AnnieMaroo: Archiving this as the bird blind is rotting rickety and has become dangerous to be on
I can't alter the cache page, so a new EC will be forthcoming

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Hidden : 12/2/2014
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


Do not under any circumstances venture off the trails. There are deep hidden irrigation ditches and creeks located around Viaduct Flats. If you were to accidentally fall through the top layer, you might not be able to get yourself back out. Before the area was weired, it was common in the summer to see Viaduct Flats dry up. In fact, the farmers used to pump the water out in order to be able to start planting potatoes and corn. People loved to walk their dogs or ride horses out there. Horses and riders have fallen through the top crusty layer that forms over these deep water ways. The riders were all able to get out of the muck. Some horses were lucky and were winched out by the fire department, others were not. The flats themselves are not very deep, as Blue Heron's will stand in the water and fish.  
Please stay on the well marked trails and be safe.

The best spot for free parking is off Interurban Road just across from Viaduct Ave West. It is about 5 km round trip to walk from Viaduct Flats over to Quick's Bottom around to the Colquitz River outlet and back. Bikes are permitted on the trails in both parks. Dogs are not permitted in Quick's Bottom Nature Sanctuary.

To log this Earthcache please E-mail me the answers through my geocaching.com account. Please copy and paste the questions (so I can see them along with your answers) Once you've sent the email with your answers, go ahead and log your find without waiting for a reply from me. I will contact you if there are any problems with your log entry. Please do not give away any answers in your log. Photos are welcomed but not necessary!


Questions:

1) Visit N 48° 29.935 W 123° 25.098. You will get a nice unobstructed view of Viaduct Flats from the birding tower. After reading the cache page descriptions and visiting the site, what type of wetland do you think is the main one for Viaduct Flats?  A swamp, a marsh, a bog, a fen, or shallow open water?  In your own words, list your choice and give evidence (vegetation or lack of) / explain how you came to your main conclusion.

2) Visit N 48° 29.852 W 123° 24.214. Go up into the bird blind and stand on a bench to get the best view of the area. What type of main wetland do you think Quick's Bottom is?  A swamp, a marsh, a bog, or a fen?  In your own words,  list your main choice and give evidence / explain why.

3) Visit N48 29.631 W123 24.077. Standing on the wooden bridge, look at the water flow in Coquitz River. What color is the water you see during your visit? Which statement below best describes the river bed? (answers will vary depending on the season)
a) Grass covered rocky river bed with a meter or less of gently moving water
b) Brown silty / sandy river bed with a meter or less of slowly moving water
c) Mucky / muddy / sandy brown river bottom with slow to barely moving water

Viaduct Flats



Viaduct Flats and Viaduct Creek are part of the Colquitz River watershed that lie between Interurban and Markham Roads. The land in this sub-watershed was drained and farmed until 1993, when the agricultural lease expired. Around the same time, a beaver dam appeared that blocked off the outlet channel and created an area that remained flooded year-round. This hydrological change created wetland habitat that was soon being used by many birds and other wildlife species as well as aquatic/marsh vegetation. For this reason, two weirs were installed at the outlet of the wetland to maintain water levels, and the area is now preserved as municipal parkland. It is a popular bird-watching area, and a viewing platform has been installed by the Victoria Natural History Society (accessed from Interurban Road). This change in hydrology has meant that there are lower flows than in the past in Viaduct Creek. The reach of Viaduct Creek between Viaduct Flats and Quick’s Bottom is sometimes referred to as Goward Springs A Creek.

Quick's Bottom



Quick's Bottom was once a dairy farm owned by brothers William John and Fredrick George Quick. They arrived from New Zealand in 1889 and eventually had the largest herd of pure-bred Jersy dairy cows on Vancouver Island. Quick's Bottom Park was officially named November 3, 1980  as it was a well established local name that refered to an 8+ hectar area along the Colquits River Valley.
Quick's Bottom Park protects an urban wetland within the Colquitz River watershed. The wetland is home to a diversity of fish and wildlife. Over forty species of birds and five species of fish make Quick's Bottom their home at various times throughout the year. Urbanization, deforestation and farming activities dating back to the 1940's have changed the wetlands natural functions. Today it is taken over by invasive reed canary grass, affecting water quality and reducing species diversity within this fragile ecosystem. Through partnerships established in 1999, a plan has developed and work has started that focus on returning the wetland to a healthy, functioning ecosystem. A goal of the plan was to increase open water, allowing improved fish access to spawning and rearing habitat in the upper reaches of the Colquitz water shed and greater access for wetland for waterfowl. Conservation and restoration have included conducting preliminary habitat assessments and a hydrological (water cycle) and geomorphologic (characteristics, origin, and development of landforms) survey. Three channels within the wetland have been constructed to increase open water, introduce habitat complexity and improve water quality. Riparian planting at selected sites have been initiated to introduce plant diversity and to help control the reed canary grass invasion.



Wetlands encompass many different habitats including ponds, marshes, swamps, and peat lands. They are areas where land and water meet and are wet for an ecologically significant part of the year. Wetlands may be temporally flooded each day as with tidal marshes, or filled seasonally with water from melting snow. Plants and animals present in wetlands are from land and water habitats making them highly productive environments. Wetlands function as ecotones, transitions between different habitats, and have characteristics of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. Wet lands are found along the shorelines of oceans, lakes, rivers, and in local depressions. The water in natural wetlands comes from tidal flows, lakes, flooding rivers, or connections to groundwater. The water table in wetlands is at or near the surface and the land is often covered with shallow water. Primarily, the factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation or aquatic plant, adapted to its unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, and shoreline stability. Wetlands have often been discribed as the kidneys of the landscape because of the role they play in water and chenical cycles. Wetlands filter out sediment and pollution from the surrounding environment so that the water they discharge is cleaner than that which entered the wetland, In this manner, wetlands act as both a sink and source, storing  and passing on vital resourses to their local environment.
Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica, the largest including the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, and the Pantanal. The water found in wetlands can be freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens; and sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea. They can also be constructed artificially as a water management tool, which may play a role in the developing field of water-sensitive urban design. The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction with the development of rapid assessment tools to inform people about wetland issues.

Shallow Open Water
Shallow open waters are small bodies of standing or gently flowing water that represent a transitional stage between lakes and marshes. They vary greatly in physical and chemical composition. Their mid-summer depth is less than 2 meters and open expanses of water comprise at least 75% of their area. Ponds, pools, oxbows and channels are all different types of shallow open water. Their surface is free of vegetation except for aquatic macrophytes. Unlike lakes, the water temperature in shallow open waters is uniform, lacking any stratification.

Main Wetland Types:

Swamp
A swamp is a wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along large rivers where they are critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations. Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes. Some swamps have hammocks (a stand of trees) , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more correctly termed a bog or muskeg. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water or seawater. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo.
A swamp is a wetland class associated with streams, rivers or lakes which has water flowing through it. They are often confused with marshes but are distinguished by the presence of trees and shrubs. Swamps occur on saturated soils and are flooded for most, if not all of the growing season. The main swamp regions in Canada are Vancouver Island, the southern Pacific Coast and the Great Lakes region.

Marsh
A marsh is a type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat. Marshes are frequently or continually flooded wetlands characterized by emergent herbaceous vegetation adapted to saturated soil conditions, changing water flows and mineral soils. Marshes contain shallow water varying from 15 to 90 cm in depth. Expansive stretches of open water are uncommon. Marshes are separated into freshwater and saltwater types. Freshwater marshes are primarily inland, while salt marshes line the coasts of North America. Marshes are the most common wetland in North America. The main freshwater marsh areas in Canada are the prairie potholes and the Great Lakes marshes. Coastal salt marshes lie along Hudson and James Bay, as well as the Atlantic, Pacific and Artic coastlines.

Bog
Bogs are the most common type of wetland in Northern Canada, especially in Arctic and subarctic regions. In fact bogs are very common across the entire northern hemisphere in previously glaciated areas.  Bogs are characterized by substacial peat accumulation(>40 cm), high water tables and acid loving vegetation. There are no significant inflows or outflows of water from a bog, resulting in stagnant, unproductive environments. Canada possess 35% of the world's peat accumulating wetlands, termed peatlands.  A bog is a mire that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material - often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. They are frequently covered in ericaceous (lime hating)  shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink. Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, in which case they are termed ombrotrophic (rain-fed). Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown color, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general, the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, but decay is even slower owing to the saturated soil. Hence peat accumulates. Large areas of landscape can be covered many meters deep in peat. Bogs have distinctive assemblages of plant and animal species and are of high importance for biodiversity, particularly in landscapes that are otherwise settled and farmed.

Fen
Fens are a type of peatland which resemble bogs as they too contain at least 40 cm of peat. However, fens support marsh-like vegetation including sedges and wildflowers, This type of wetland is found throughout Canada but is most common in arctic and subarctic regions. The main difference between fens and bogs are flora, hydrology, and water chemistry.
A fen is one of the four main types of wetland, the others being grassy marshes, forested swamps, and peaty bogs. Along with bogs, fens are a kind of mire. Fens are usually fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. They are characterized by their water chemistry, which is pH neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients. They are usually dominated by grasses and sedges, and typically have brown mosses in general including Scorpidium or Drepanocladus. Fens frequently have a high diversity of other plant species including carnivorous plants such as Pinguicula (commonly known as the butterworts.) They may also occur along large lakes and rivers where seasonal changes in water level maintain wet soils with few woody plants. The distribution of individual species of fen plants is often closely connected to water regimes and nutrient concentrations. Fens have a characteristic set of plant species, which sometimes provide the best indicators of environmental conditions. For example, fen indicator species in New York State include Carex flava (yellow sedge), Cladium mariscoides (Smooth Sawgrass), Potentilla fruticosa (has many nicknames, such as shrubby cinquefoil, widdy, shrubby potentilla, and golden hardhack), Pogonia ophioglossoides (Snake Mouth Orchid), and Parnassia glauca (Grass of Parnassus - which is considered to be an indicator species of fens). Fens are distinguished from bogs, which are acidic, low in minerals, and usually dominated by sedges and shrubs, along with abundant mosses in the genus Sphagnum. Fens have been damaged in the past by land drainage, and also by peat cutting. Some are now being carefully restored with modern management methods. The principal challenges are to restore natural water flow regimes, to maintain the quality of water, and to prevent invasion by woody plants.

Definitions:
Hydric soil is soil which is permanently or seasonally saturated by water, resulting in anaerobic conditions, as found in wetlands.
Hypoxia refers to low oxygen conditions.
A macrophyte is an aquatic plant that grows in or near water and is either emergent, submergent, or floating.





 Congratulations to THEG-FORCE and The A-Team on the shared FTF!

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