Cavendish dunes restored with marram grass

A class of University of Prince Edward Island students got a hands-on lesson in ecology at Cavendish Beach this week and a section of damaged sand dunes is in better shape thanks to their work.

On Tuesday, professor Christian Lacroix's third- and fourth-year biology and wildlife conservation students teamed up with Parks Canada to plant 2,000 plugs of marram grass.

The plant's roots hold the dunes together.

"It's a nice break from the academic studying," says Erica Corbin, a third-year biology student. "It's good to get hands-on, to take stuff that you learn in the classroom and see it in real life."                     

Lacroix says he and his students discuss this type of work in the classroom.

"We show pictures. We talk about people who do these types of things. But when you actually do it, you understand exactly why it's being done and how it's being done. It will make a lot of sense to them to understand how a dune system forms."          

And it's a win-win for Parks Canada staff who would have had to do the work themselves.        

Many are also graduates of the UPEI program.          

"It's neat to see them in jobs where they put what they learned into practice," says Lacroix.          

Student Kristina Ivkov agrees with Lacroix.          

"It's really nice seeing people who've gone ahead in the same kind of studies that you've done and where they've gone from there, what kind of work they're involved with."            

"I would love to be working with Parks Canada in these mitigation, restoration-type projects," adds Alex Johnston, a fourth-year environmental biology student.        

The students also helped secure old Christmas trees around the section where the marram grass has been planted. 

Parks Canada planted 200 trees in the same area last year.  The trees trapped blowing sand over the winter and added a metre of sand growth on the dunes.