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[Standard Parks Canada Intro]
Text: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve Presents

Text: A Coastal British Columbia Production

[Shot of west coast mountains from helicopter above Ucluelet, British Columbia. A surfer with surf board walks on Long Beach. Underwater shot of fish. Walking through temperate rainforest]

Narrator: On the west coast of Vancouver Island lies Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Known for its stunning natural beauty and biological diversity, it remains one of Canada's crown jewels of environmental conservation.

[Great Blue Heron taking flight. Shot of Grey Whales swimming in the Broke Group Islands and black bear walking through forest]

Narrator: Home to a number of rare and unique wildlife, this park spans over 500 square kilometres of lush temperate rainforest, windswept dunes, dynamic shores, and serene waters surrounding a multitude of islands.

[Shot on top of mountain looking over Barkley Sound showing many islands in the distance]

Narrator: Pacific Rim is a world-renown destination for incredible hiking, surfing, kayaking and outdoor adventure. But unknown to many is the ongoing ecological monitoring taking place in the park, where scientists are restoring some of Canada’s most sensitive ecosystems threatened by human disturbance. This summer I was fortunate enough to assist park staff with their monitoring projects, getting a behind the scenes glimpse at their work as well as experiencing the wonders of this national park first hand. Through my work as a summer student I was able to explore Pacific Rim and learn about how Parks Canada is protecting important pieces of our natural and cultural heritage.

[Underwater shot of releasing fish back to water, boating throughout the Broken Group Islands and walking up a sand dune]
Narrator: This is the story of the dune restoration project.

Text: Digging up the Dirt on Dunes: Adventures of a Parks Canada Student

[Close-up shot of Narrator, David, inspecting sand dune plants]
Narrator: This past summer I worked with the Dune Restoration team at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, a team of scientists dedicated to restoring the dune ecosystem of long beach back to its original state.

[Shot of ecosystem scientist measuring weight of plants]
Narrator: In 2008, the park set out to restore the sand dune ecosystems which had been overrun by the invasive European beach grass for more than 50 years. As a result of this invasive species, Ammophila, sand no longer moved freely throughout the dunes, and the encroaching forest threatened the dune ecosystem.

[Camera pans across the Wickanninish Sand Dune Ecosystem from the forest looking out into the Pacific Ocean]

Narrator: The dunes host a wide variety of rare and endangered species and so it's a very important habitat.

[Shot of many different species of plants in the sand dune ecosystem]

Narrator: There are very few dunes left in British Columbia partly because of Ammophila and human development. Like many invasive species, European Beachgrass is very resilient and can survive in harsh conditions making it difficult to control.

[Ecosystem scientist kneels in the large patch of invasive European Beach grass as he begins to remove them]

Danielle: Any little broken fragment can float around in the ocean for years, come up on a beach plant itself and within five years be acres. And just the tiniest bit can form a root that goes 4 metres down, traps sand and creates a whole colony just like that.

[Excavator digging up large chunks of European Beach Grass]

Narrator: The first step of the restoration required an excavator to dig up large swaths of deep-rooted Ammophila. And with the help of volunteers, Parks Canada is able to prevent much of the regrowth of this invasive species.

[Shot of a dozen volunteers pulling out invasive European Beach grass (Ammophila arenaria).]

Danielle: We’ve had 123 volunteers this year alone put in over 800 hours and we’ve been able to manage the re-growth so far of those areas that we’ve done. That’s a huge number of plants in a huge area we’re talking acres that have been maintained by volunteers.

Volunteers: And it’s a beautiful place to working we have a view of the ocean we can watch the whales while we work and sea lions.

[View of the ocean while volunteers are pulling European Beach Grass]

Narrator: Scientists are able to determine how much Ammophila is being removed because of the use of mapping and GIS.

David: The problem with a normal GPS is that it’s only accurate to about 8 metres whereas an RTK system is accurate to within centimeters. And by tracking even the smallest changes I realized just how dynamic dune ecosystems are.

[Close-up shot of pink-sand verbena plant in the sand on a windy day showing the change in sand over the course of a few hours]

Narrator: Every day, things look a little bit different and even in just a few years of park monitoring and volunteer support, there have been incredible changes, with almost 85% of the dunes restored.

[Map showing the change in cover of invasive species in Wickanninish Beach from 2008 to 2011]

Narrator: With the dunes restored, species at risk like Pink sand-verbena have a better chance at surviving.

[Close-up shot of pink sand-verbena that is flowering]

Narrator: This endangered plant was last seen in Canada in 2001 on the West Coast Trail. From the seeds of the last two remaining plants found in Canada, over 2000 pink sand verbena have been reintroduced to save the species from the brink of extinction.

[Parks Canada scientist planting rows of pink-sand verbena on the West Coast Trail]

Narrator: For the planting of pink-sand verbena the restoration team headed to Keeha Beach in the West Coast Trail Unit of the national park.

[Shot of Keeha Beach on the west coast trail as the mist from the ocean rolls in the morning and fades out. Helicopter lands to pick up Dune restoration team and water and plants are loaded onto the helicopter. David straps himself into the helicopter and the pilot gets ready for take-off. Shots from the helicopter looking over islands of the Broken Group Islands unit of the national park. In the distance, the coastal mountains are shown with snow-top peaks. Helicopter lands on Keeha beach on the West Coast trail while a map showing the location of Keeha Beach in relation to Long Beach is displayed.]

Narrator: On Keeha Beach, we planted nearly 400 pink sand-verbena and on Long Beach another 800. This also entailed many hours of watering and monitoring to ensure they survive in the fragile dune environment.

[Parks Canada staff watering pink sand-verbena plots on the sand dune]

Narrator: Another native species that's thriving due to restoration efforts is yellow sand-verbena. An exciting challenge this summer was to search for the elusive sand-verbena moth, an endangered species that only feeds on the yellow sand verbena. For all stages of the moth's life, this plant is its entire world. For 6 weeks this summer, I convinced some volunteers to hike out to the dunes in the dark and search for this mysterious moth.

[Shot of dark sky and storm approaching with dramatic ominous sounds]

Dean: “We’re going out to look for a moth. A very, very, very rare moth. We’ll see if we can get one. Watch out for wolves and bears and we’ll be good.

[Reenactment of finding the sand verbena moth: Volunteer shining flashlight on yellow sand-verbena plants and not finding anything until camera person announces in excitement that there is a moth on another sand verbena plant that looks like the endangered species. A picture is then taken and shown.]

Narrator: After this video was taken we received confirmation that the moth found was indeed a sand-verbena moth, the first sighting at Pacific Rim, and only the fourth location in Canada. The biggest reward of solving this mystery is that yellow sand-verbena has become critical habitat for this endangered moth. Being designated critical habitat ensures that the dunes will continue to be an important piece in the ongoing ecological monitoring at national parks.

[Shot of monitoring ecologist, Phil Lee, setting up a vegetation plot experiment on the sand dunes]

Phil: Parks can no longer take for granted that simply drawing a line and providing protection for ecological elements within an area is a guarantee of protection and maintenance of those ecological elements. In that way, we have to monitor constantly what it is that’s going on in the park in terms of the ecosystem, in terms of species.

Narrator: All of this work would remain a mystery to the public if it were not for park staff who educate visitors and volunteers about the dunes.

[Interpretive walk showing visitors experiencing different aspects of the sand dunes on Long Beach. Park Interpreter, Carl, hands out seeds for visitors to examine]

Carl: Overall I think education for the wild places is important. One of the things I do on my dune walk is near the end of the walk I invite children, young and old, to go up and roll down the dunes. Make people connect with the place, because if people start to care then there is a future for protected places.

[Shot of children running up slope of sand dune and then rolling down again]

Danielle: Some of my favourite moments have been really simple moments, just sitting down and pulling grass with some volunteers while they were learning how to do it. And they’d be saying, ‘this is so great, this is so amazing, look at what you guys’. Just the enthusiasm of volunteers and also other staff members that I work with out here has just been really addictive and really keeps me motivated on the project.

[Shot of volunteers pulling weeds while smiling and laughing. Cut to a shot of sand dune that has been overrun with invasive weeds]

Carl: This is a disappearing place. The dunes, if we do nothing, will be gone.

Danielle: We figured these dunes would be completely closed up within 30 years and they would have been dead. All these species would have disappeared. And we know that everything is improving and we see the enthusiasm of everyone noticing.

Carl: The experience of being in the dune.

[Shot of visitors touching the sand and examining the beach]

Carl: That’s going to stick.

Narrator: From my time at Pacific Rim, I learned that connecting people with nature is an integral part of the ongoing restoration work on the dunes and in the national park. We need conservation in order for visitors to experience national parks. I feel connected to this park because I've had the privilege of experiencing it in many ways.

[Close-up action shot of student surfing, cut to a helicopter taking off overhead, and then walking through the temperate rainforest.]

Narrator: Even though my summer is ending at the park, I'm hopeful that my contribution here will leave a lasting impact for years to come, just as I know my experiences here will leave a lasting impact on me.

[Shots of narrator on top of a mountain looking over Clayoquot Sound islands, then boating in the Broken Group Islands; hiking in the temperate rainforest and looking over at the Mackenzie mountain range on Vancouver Island. Shots children running towards the ocean and helicopter over Keeha beach. A sunset over the mountains of Clayoquot sound is seen and a time-lapse video sunset fades to black]

Text: A film by David Lawless and Marie Stradeski. Music by Jon Lawless, Nicole Japser, First Rate People.

Text: “Jacob and the Ladder” – First Rate People, “Take this Lightly” – Windmill Wedding, “45 (Part 2) – First Rate People.

Text: Many thanks to Claude Augustine, David Albert-Lebrun, Emily Palmer, Lily Jackson.

Text: For more information visit: www.pc.gc.ca/pacficrim

[Standard Parks Canada Outro]