Rithet's Bog

Project Location

BC Coastal On southern Vancouver Island, within the Greater Victoria Regional District.

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Common Wildlife

  • Cooper’s Hawk
  • Mule Deer
  • Marsh Wren
  • Cottontail Rabbit
  • Common Snipe
  • Muskrat
  • Mallard
  • American Goldfinch
  • Butterflies
  • Virginia Rail
 

Rithet’s Bog

Highlights

Rithet’s Bog consists of a low-lying basin of marshes, wet meadows, and bog forest and is surrounded by hilly terrain and rock outcrops. The basin is part of the watershed of Gabo Creek, a tributary of Colquitz Creek, which meanders through most of central Victoria.

The Rithet’s Bog project reflects an increasing public awareness of the ecological functions of small peat-based wetlands. In urban areas, where surrounding landscapes have been subjected to significant development, the lush bog plant communities filter contaminants from run-off and help moderate water supplies between storms and droughts. Because bog vegetation makes up a lush living breathing sponge, large amounts of atmospheric carbon are used by live plants and are not released to the atmosphere. Bogs are considered vital to the reduction of global warming through this reduction of greenhouse gases.

Background

The bog was included in a 1893 purchase by Robert Patterson Rithet. At this time, the land surrounding the bog was used for agricultural production. In an attempt to lower the water table, improve farming and increase the area of arable land, drainage ditches were cut through the cultivated fields at the west edge of the bog. The land was sold in 1954 and then again in 1976. Drainage ditches were increased for farming, but cultivation was abandoned due to excessive flooding. In 1994, Broadmead Farms donated the bog to the Corporation of the District of Saanich. In addition, Saanich purchased two adjacent smaller parcels of land. The total property now encompasses 38.6 ha (95.4 ac).

In 2002, a bog restoration project was initiated through a partnership of municipal government, natural history organizations, and Ducks Unlimited Canada. The restoration work included the installation of a water control structure to block run-off and help maintain water levels, the removal of willow trees (which were slowly overtaking the bog) and the establishment of a monitoring system to evaluate the response of the bog ecosystem to these changes.

Project Partners

  • Department of Fisheries and Oceans
  • BC Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection
  • Corporation of the District of Saanich
  • BC Habitat Conservation Trust Fund
  • Ducks Unlimited Canada
  • Rithet’s Bog Conservation Society
  • BC Hydro

 

 
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