Project Background
This mapping project is an ongoing effort to curate and share restoration knowledge for this ecosystem. Building off of the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team's (GOERT) extensive work and existing list of 70+ restoration projects in Canada, we have tried to compile information on restoration projects in oak meadows across its Canadian range. The goal is to make projects visible, to allow everyone to explore the methods and goals of their local restoration, and to share documentation on the results of projects regionally.
Started in 2020, with funding from a Tri-Councils Knowledge Synthesis Grant, this project has been a partnership among practitioners, researchers, and managers. Many people generously contributed their knowledge and shared documentation to support the work. A summary of the Garry oak ecosystem case study report affiliated with the original project can be found at: onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/ecorestoration/resources/
Map Navigation Tips
This map includes all known regional oak meadow restoration projects as points. You can click on a point to learn more about each project. In addition, you can choose which types of projects you see using the "filters" panel, selecting sites that are managing key invasive species, use certain management techniques, or include other characteristics of interest. You can also add a custom filter for any keyword, showing sites that mention that word in their description.
There are additional layers that can be viewed using the layer buttons. These can be toggled on and off as you choose.
Data Sources
- Restoration sites: The underlying data in this database comes from academic studies, news reports, transcribed interviews, and a wide range of other sources. It is maintained by the Restoration Futures lab at the University of Victoria.
- Species at Risk: The Species and Ecosystems at Risk data comes from the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre, and details the publicly available occurrences of species or ecosystems at risk. Click here to learn more about or download the dataset.
- Current oak meadows: This layer shows the preliminary results of an academic study (Rolleman, 2020), an estimate of the location of existing Garry Oak meadow ecosystems in southern Vancouver Island.
- Historic oak meadows: This layer shows the results of Ted Lea's 2008 study estimating the pre-contact extents of the Garry Oak meadow ecosystem on Vancouver Island.