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Cedar Bog Lake

Cedar Bog Trail Restoration

Cedar Bog Trail

Birds Hill Provincial Park (BHPP) hosts almost one million visitors a year and its most frequented trail is the Cedar Bog Trail. This trail goes through a variety of unique habitats including cedar bogs, tall-grass prairie and aspen/oak parkland. Due to the trail's popularity and past land use (i.e. gravel extraction) these habitats have been degraded.

These disturbed areas represent an opportunity to restore and revegetate native tall grass prairie, a habitat that supports the rare and threatened Western Silvery Aster. In the bog, a key issue is the damage to habitat adjacent to the trail. When low-lying portions of the trail are inundated with water, visitors walk off the trail to avoid the water, trampling plants (including 6 species of native orchids) and further destroying the trail-bed.

The trail needs modifications to reduce damage to native vegetation and animal habitat while restoring and maintaining the natural function of the bog. This project has been designed to determine the extent of habitat damage and subsequently rehabilitate degraded sites while preventing further habitat loss.

The goals of this project are three-fold:

  • Determine the level of ecological degradation at the trail site and the best methods to make the trail more environmentally sustainable
  • Rehabilitate areas of native tall grass prairie and reduce trail impact
  • Engage park visitors and park neighbours in stewardship activities

How Our Project Helps the Environment

Tall-grass prairie is one of Manitoba's most threatened natural habitats with less than 1% of its original extent remaining. The tall-grass prairies of BHPP support Canada's largest population of nationally threatened Western Silvery Aster. At least 10 acres of tall-grass prairie are thought to be disturbed along the Cedar Bog Trail. Non-native plant species and woody encroachment are both threats to tall-grass prairies in BHPP. The locally adapted prairie plants present in the park provide a good base for restoration efforts. Management activities aimed at planting additional native species, removing non-native and woody species, and establishing a new population of Western Silvery Aster would enhance the ecological value of these sites.

Measures of Success