Living on the fringe:
The rare dune plants of Haida Gwaii
by Berry Wijdeven
The rare dune plants of Haida Gwaii
by Berry Wijdeven
When people picture Haida Gwaii they envision mighty forests, majestic mountain ranges and endless oceans. Which is great, for we have all of those. What often doesn't come to mind, however, are dunes. Which is a shame for we have those as well. In fact, Haida Gwaii has the longest dune range in British Columbia, more than 100 kilometres, starting just north of Tlell, running alongside East Beach, stretching out onto Rose Spit, then doubling back west towards Masset. If you’re into stats, and really, who isn’t, it is interesting to note that even though Haida Gwaii encompasses only 1% of the BC landbase, it contains 70% of the province’s coastal dune ecosystem.
Coastal dune ecosystems are delicate things and the plant community on those dunes had to develop an ornery streak to survive. If plants are not hammered by storms, they’re threatened by surge tides, floating logs slamming into the shore and by ever shifting sands. Even the salty ocean spray can make live more difficult. And, because the sandy dunes don’t hold rainwater very well, even in a place as well hydrated as Haida Gwaii, there’s the eternal threat of drought.
As a result of those tricky growing conditions, you wouldn’t describe the dune vegetation as lush. In the areas where the dunes haven’t stabilized and still blow around during wind storms, virtually nothing survives. In locations with more favourable growing conditions there is fierce competition for space and limited nutrients, where the more common plant species - the grasses, carrots, wild strawberries - generally beat out the rare ones. The only spot left for fringe species are the edges of the dunes where life is super precarious.
Coastal dune ecosystems are delicate things and the plant community on those dunes had to develop an ornery streak to survive. If plants are not hammered by storms, they’re threatened by surge tides, floating logs slamming into the shore and by ever shifting sands. Even the salty ocean spray can make live more difficult. And, because the sandy dunes don’t hold rainwater very well, even in a place as well hydrated as Haida Gwaii, there’s the eternal threat of drought.
As a result of those tricky growing conditions, you wouldn’t describe the dune vegetation as lush. In the areas where the dunes haven’t stabilized and still blow around during wind storms, virtually nothing survives. In locations with more favourable growing conditions there is fierce competition for space and limited nutrients, where the more common plant species - the grasses, carrots, wild strawberries - generally beat out the rare ones. The only spot left for fringe species are the edges of the dunes where life is super precarious.
![Haida Gwaii - Contemplative Pips](/uploads/1/2/6/9/126967338/editor/img-5224-2.jpg?1580268540)
Sea Bluebell (Mertensia maritima) for whom Haida Gwaii is situated at the southern limit of its range, is often found at the high tide mark, away from other vegetation in the driftwood zone, turning a challenging environment into an opportunity for competitive survival.The downside of that approach is that they’ve chosen a bit of a sketchy neighbourhood and the odds for longterm survival at the same location are small. After a particular stormy winter the bluebells often disappear, only to pop up a few hundred meters away a year or two later. There’s a reason they’re provincially blue listed.
![Haida Gwaii - Looking for scat](/uploads/1/2/6/9/126967338/published/img-0456.jpg?1580268857)
Beach Groundsel (Senecio pseudoarnica) has also found refuge in the salty, wild and wooly tidal zone. It is also blue-listed. Though the plant is quite common on the Atlantic coast and up in Alaska, it is rare in BC. On Haida Gwaii, there are a number of healthy colonies, but because they take a beating in winter, the colonies tend to wax and wane. Beach Groundsel is a member of the daisy family and has gorgeous big yellow flowers and large, tobacco-type leaves.
![Haida Gwaii Ermine](/uploads/1/2/6/9/126967338/published/img-9803.jpg?1580269064)
For years the Silky Beach Pea (Lathyrus littoralis) was considered quite rare on Haida Gwaii, as the islands are considered to be at the north-end of the plant’s range. When concerns were raised about population numbers on islands further south, a local inventory was undertaken. I got to be part of that project so over a number of summers we walked large stretches of dunes. Sure, it was exhausting, plodding miles and miles through loose sand but spending time on East Beach is always a treat. We were fortunate to find a number of substantive colonies and the plant is doing pretty good on Haida Gwaii. Just as long as the quads stay away….
One of the rarest dune plants on Haida Gwaii, known from only two locations, is Beach Morning Glory (Calystegia soldanella), also known as Beach Bindweed. The presence of the plant on Haida Gwaii represents a northern range extension for the species. It was first described in 1966 but since exact locations weren’t noted it wasn’t seen again till 2009 when a visiting crew from the Royal British Columbia Museum stumbled across them. I try to visit the sites every few years to see if the plants are still there. They are. I like to sit down next to the small colony of plants, watching them be, minding their own business. The patches don’t appear to be shrinking or growing, they are just there, year after year, for who knows how many years. It’s strangely peaceful and soothing, making me believe, for just that moment, that all is right in the world.
In our ad-hoc searches for rare dune plants, the ultimate goal, the piece the resistance would be to find the rarest of the rare, known from only one location on Haida Gwaii, the Yellow Sandverbena (Abronia latifolia). It was described during a 1967 survey from just a single location. While Haida Gwaii is considered to be the northern limit of the plant’s range, there is a lot of potentially suitable habitat and we always hoped that there would be other locations. Over time, however, after conducting 13 years of surveys, that hope grew dimmer.
Fast forward to 2019 when a crew of botanists and entomologists came to Haida Gwaii for a dune survey. I was thrilled to be invited to join them for a day, an opportunity I will never say no to. It was a good day, not too hot with hardly any wind. It didn’t take us long to find some Beach Groundsel and, soon afterward, two Sea Bluebells. It was as good day.
I decided to climb one of the dunes to take a 360 degree photo, documenting the site. While I was twirling around taking the shot, my eye caught sight of some plants below. They had yellow flowers, but yellow is a favourite colour in the dune plant community. It may have been something about the shape of the leaves, or the fact that hope springs eternal, but I decided to clamber down to have a second look.
Fast forward to 2019 when a crew of botanists and entomologists came to Haida Gwaii for a dune survey. I was thrilled to be invited to join them for a day, an opportunity I will never say no to. It was a good day, not too hot with hardly any wind. It didn’t take us long to find some Beach Groundsel and, soon afterward, two Sea Bluebells. It was as good day.
I decided to climb one of the dunes to take a 360 degree photo, documenting the site. While I was twirling around taking the shot, my eye caught sight of some plants below. They had yellow flowers, but yellow is a favourite colour in the dune plant community. It may have been something about the shape of the leaves, or the fact that hope springs eternal, but I decided to clamber down to have a second look.
![Pips and Heath searching for scat in Haida Gwaii old growth](/uploads/1/2/6/9/126967338/published/img-0455.jpg?1580270365)
It was a patch of healthy Yellow Sandverbena. No way! I ran over to the rest of the crew to tell them the news. Apparently they had never seen me run before, so they looked up at me with some concern. They were excited by the find, for sure, but nowhere as excited as I was. A second patch of Yellow Sandverbena! On Haida Gwaii! It DOES exist after all! The patch looked healthy and reasonably protected from the elements, though in a coastal dune environment all protection is relative.
![Haida Gwaii - Heath creekside](/uploads/1/2/6/9/126967338/img-1420_orig.jpg)
That was a REALLY good day in the dunes! But then I love the dunes. The dry undulating sandscapes have, over the years, been a great place for hikes and explorations. The fact that they hold mysteries only adds to their allure. The search is now on for the elusive Pink Sandverbena. It has never been recorded on Haida Gwaii. But perhaps never just means not yet….