South Okanagan endangered plant vandal scandal a misunderstanding | Infonews

May 08, 2025 – 4:30 p.m.

Just lines in the sand on a beach in south Okanagan seemed to be caused by a tractor, and it seemed as if someone had destroyed an endangered way of small yellow flowers, but the authorities do not believe that this is the case.

The short-strained alkali daster is an endangered way and Christie Memorial Beach in Okanagan Falls is one of the few places in the country where it grows. Now the beach is covered with track notes.

The regional district of Okanagan-Similkamen rates the beach in spring and autumn to clarify invasive species and simulate the natural circumstances in which the Aster thrives. Reports in the community and in the media claim that the markings in the sand from Vandalen destroyed the flowers.

Erick Thompson with the regional district said that the straight lines in the sand come from regular maintenance, which were carried out on April 23.

“The tractor starks were still visible and I think the confusion with someone was set there because I don't think someone will drive up and down the beach in this way,” he said.

Thompson said that the plant usually blooms in late summer and only visible in August, so it has no reason to suspect that someone went in to destroy it.

“We have no reason to assume that it did a vandalism,” he said. “A learning lesson here … It would be good for us to try to publish some information in advance.”

Lia McKinnon with the Okanagan Similkamen Stewardship said there are some people who would rather get rid of the flowers because they don't like what they look like, and they influence the use of beach, so that a case of vandalism is not too far.

Read more: From endangered plant that the residents of South Okanagan Beach protected for one reason: botanists

“There is definitely a community segment that the plant does not appreciate,” she said. “You have rewards whether people could find more locations, but not because they wanted more protection for the system. They hoped to find enough locations to reduce the protection of the system and they could get rid of them.”

UBC Okanagan Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Sumer Seiki said the Aster was a crucial way of protection.

She had also heard that the plants had been destroyed.

“Effects on the biological diversity in Okanagan cause a chain reaction that influences other types in our ecosystem and starts with our own health and upcraft all over the world because the Okanagan is a hotspot for biological diversity,” said Seiki in an e -mail to Infonews.ca.

If someone ripped off the aster on the beach, they could be exposed to a fine of $ 50,000 and a prison sentence of $ 50,000, and a company could be fined up to 1 million US dollars.

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