Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) in the Goward woodland

INVENTORY OF PLANT SPECIES IN GOWARD WOODLAND

In 1993, Dr. Richard B. Smith, then recently retired forest ecologist from the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, compiled a list of about 90 plant species in the Goward woodland, excluding species of mosses, lichens and fungi. There has been no comprehensive plant inventory since 1993, but in 2009 new footpath construction in the southwest segment of the woodland revealed three species not recorded in the 1993 survey: two shrubs, Pacific ninebark and black twinberry; and Indian pipe, a member of the heather family, an unusual plant that lacks chlorophyll and is dependent upon fungal connections to Douglas-fir roots for its nutrition. Recent clearing of invasive ivy revealed the location of falsebox (Oregon boxwood), an evergreen shrub that had been recorded in 1993 but whose location was unknown until 2009.

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE GOWARD WOODLAND BE LIKE?

In 2009 Saanich Parks and Recreation began development of an Urban Forest Strategy. One early outcome was a realization that although mature urban trees are protected little attention is given to young trees that are a part of natural forest succession. In 2009 Goward House Society began identifying locations of the very few young trees present in the Goward woodland. These are mainly saplings of grand fir and broadleaf maple but also two young Garry oaks and one young cascara sapling. One indication of future changes is that the most conspicuous tree species now in this woodland - Douglas- fir, arbutus, western yew, red alder, black cottonwood, shore pine and willow – have few, if any, young saplings to replace the mature forest now present. The likely future structure and appearance of the Goward woodland is a subject being researched at present.