Friends of the Gorge has initiated a new project at the Railyards, a condominium development on the Gorge Waterway in Victoria. The waterfront area was overgrown with horsetail, blackberry and thistle. City parks crews cleared some of the area, and provided native shrubs to replant along the trail. Volunteers turned out in November 2007 for a work party to dig in the new shrubs, and will meet once a month to continue the restoration work.
 The Railyards development is located on the western shore of the Gorge Waterway adjacent to the Selkirk Trestle. The Galloping Goose Regional Trail runs in front of the Railyards, and a narrow strip of public foreshore land slopes down to the gravel beach. A former industrial site, the whole development is built on fill that has extended the land area out into the waterway, and buried the original shoreline under rock and rubble. Despite these changes, many native trees and shrubs manage to grow along the narrow strip of vegetation between the water and the public trail and housing above. Along with the native plants, however, there are many invasive exotic species like Himalayan blackberry, horsetail, English ivy, thistle and Scots broom. These plants grow aggressively and crowd out the native species.
Our goal with the Friends of the Gorge Railyards initiative is to engage Railyards residents and other interested people in a restoration effort to remove as many invasive s as possible, and replace with native shrubs suited to the shoreline habitat. The City of Victoria Parks Department has been enthusiastic in their support for this project, providing manpower, machinery, expertise and native shrubs for the site.
In October 2007 an area infested with horsetail was cleared by Parks staff. A few weeks later, volunteers planted over 100 native shrubs, including Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) and willow (Salix spp).
With continued help from dedicated volunteers, we hope to restore the waterfront at the Railyards to a more intact and ecologically functional shoreline. Establishing native vegetation at this site will help reduce erosion along the shore and improve habitat for wildlife.
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