Coastal Plants - Pukaskwa

Established in 2020, the coastal plants measure is composed of three sub-measures.

1) Rocky Coastal Plants Since 2020, data has been collected on twenty (20) study sites for coastal plants along the shore of Lake Superior in Pukaskwa National Park. Data are obtained from high and low impact areas to determine the frequency of each of the nine (9) abundant species of interest and to report on rare species. The goal is to monitor the success of these plant communities and the health of the coastal ecosystem which faces various threats from climate change, ecosystem change and human impacts.

2) Sparrow's-Egg Lady's-Slipper Twenty-one (21) colonies of Sparrow's-egg lady's-slipper were mapped within Pukaskwa NP in 1979. Colonies are defined as clusters of Sparrow's-egg Lady's-slipper stalks found within one (1) meter of at least one additional stalk of Sparrow’s-egg Lady’s-slipper. Beginning in 1982 until 1990 all vegetative stalks, flowering stalks, and number of seed pods (capsules) persisting from the previous year were counted annually at each known colony. Additional surveys were performed once each year during 1992, 1993, 1999, 2001, 2016, and 2017. As of 2017 surveys have been performed once every two years. In 1983 colonies #50 and #51 were combined into colony #50-51 and colonies #45, #46, and #47 were combined into colony #45-46-47. Colonies #32, and #33 were not surveyed from 1985 to 1989 to mitigate the risk of trampling Northern Twayblade plants located in their vicinity.

3) Pitcher's Thistle Historically, Pukaskwa had two naturally occurring populations of Pitcher’s Thistle; Creek Beach and Crescent beach, both located in Oiseau Bay. On Sept. 22 & 23, 1985 there was a severe windstorm that severely affected the beach at Oiseau Bay and caused erosion at the colony site and then on June 26, 1986, there was a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain that caused the washout of a huge portion of the Crescent Beach colony. Both of the colonies have shown negative population trends to the point where the Crescent Beach colony is now considered extirpated. From 1982 to 2014, each location was divided into plots and within each plot, each plant was tagged with a unique identifier using dymo tape and a bicycle spoke. The life stage of the plant, the habitat it is in, the number of stems, the number of heads and flowering heads, whether it was affected by plume moth, and if the plant was missing, dead or if the tag was missing or removed were recorded. In 2015, the protocol changed so that only the number of seedlings, rosettes and flowering plants per plot is recorded. In 1991, Middle Beach was planted by seed and has been surveyed in the same way since 1992. This project aims to achieve the species' recovery strategy goals by maintaining and restoring 3 colonies in Pukaskwa, with a minimum of 800 plants total and that all have acceptable fluctuations (colonies show stable trends with no more than 30% decline in 1 year).